BP shares climbed as the company suspended dividend:

BP has apologized for the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and agreed to put $20 billion aside to make sure all compensation claims are handled swiftly and fairly.

BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg told reporters after meeting President Obama at the White House that BP will not pay any further dividends this year.

And it looks like Ken Feinberg, now the administration’s “pay czar,” will have new responsibilities:

The White House and BP tentatively agreed on Wednesday that the oil giant would create a $20 billion fund to pay claims for the worst oil spill in American history. The fund will be independently run by Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Obama administration’s special master on executive pay, according to two people familiar with the deliberations, The New York Times’s Jackie Calmes and Helene Cooper report from Washington.

President Obama will make a statement later today.

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