Peter Mather, BP's regional vice president of Europe and head of the UK , told insidethegames that their £50 million ($72 million) sponsorship of London 2012 was not in doubt because of the massive oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico which killed 11 people and has destroyed millions of peoples lives.

The latest estimates suggest 35,000-60,000 barrels of oil are leaking into the Gulf every day.

But despite the carnage caused by the spill and a bill for BP that could reach £67.5 billion ($100 billion) to fund the enormous clear up operation, Mather claimed that BP will continue to fulfil its commitments to the London 2012 Games as planned and that their status as a Tier One sponsor will remain unaffected by the disaster.

Mather tod linsidethegames: "Its entirely appropriate for BP to continue our sponsorship of London 2012 because what we are doing with London 2012 in no way whatsoever detracts from our primary focus as an organisation at the moment which is sorting out the situation in the Gulf of Mexico on the seabed, on the surface and on the shore and doing the right thing for the residents of that area long after the media have gone.

"Therefore, our sponsorship of London 2012 is totally appropriate as it is a different aspect of the company’s’ activities altogether.

“BP is a proud supporter of London 2012.

"We were proud to become a Tier One sponsor of 2012 several years ago, we’re very proud to be part of the Cultural Olympiad and we’re extremely proud to be a supporter of the London 2012 Open Weekend.

"BP is open for business."

Mather also outlined BP’s support of communities around the world and particularly those in the Gulf of Mexico.

He said: "We are involved with a vast range of communities around the world.

"Of course our main focus at the moment is on the communities of the Gulf of Mexico but life goes on and we’re absolutely determined to make sure that our activities elsewhere are seen for what they are which is strong support of fabulous things like the Cultural Olympiad."

In addition, Mather claimed that the oil spill will not affect BP’s financial commitment to London 2012 nor their endeavour to fulfil everything they promised when they signed up as a Tier One sponsor.

He said: "We’re completely committed to everything we committed to at the beginning of the 2012 project.

"We will stay as a Tier One sponsor and we are very proud to do that.

"In no way do the funds for our sponsorship for the Olympics in anyway take away from our commitment to what we are doing in the US."

Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012, once again backed BP's sponsorship of the Games.

Coe told insidethegames: "BP is a world class business who are helping us deliver a world class project and they will be with us right the way through to London 2012.

"For 30 years BP have been sponsoring the arts and culture in this country.

"They were with us during the bid; they became one of our Tier One partners coming out of the bid and they are now a large part our big events like the Cultural Olympiad."

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