The share holders can’t pay the clean up.
Sure the shareholders will pay... to the extent that they own stock and how long they stay in the company before bailing out (and selling their shares) ... the shareholders are already "paying" now ... as it is. There'll be more to pay -- but -- as I said, that's one of the risks of owning a share of a company -- especially one that is acting like a criminal organization ...
BUT, I'm sure that the CEO of BP is correct in that they have BILLIONS to spare. I'm quite sure they do. However, after this is all over, they sure won't ...
you can tell I am “green” on this topic. No pun intended but how much will this cost? do they know or can they estimate?