The oil-leak-plagued BP’s recent attempts to salvage its image via a $50-million TV advertising campaign, and its decision to consider a pay out of $10 billion in dividends this quarter, has invited the ire of President Barack Obama.

Obama, who was on his third trip to Louisiana since the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, cautioned BP against “nickel and diming the folks” of the coast - a warning that almost coincides with recent reports of BP having met some initial success in trapping the oil from the leaking well.

With US officials having estimated that 12,000-19,000 barrels of oil is leaking from the damaged well per day, Obama said that BP’s installation of a riser cap to capture hardly about 1,000 barrels a day falls far short of being terms a notable accomplishment.

Despite the fact that BP is hopeful the volume of oil being trapped will be raised in the next few days, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, referring to earlier disappointments in the attempts to curtail the leak, said: “I'm long out of the prediction business. Everyone is hopeful this works.”

Meanwhile, the BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg has said that the likelihood of the company either reducing or withholding the quarterly dividends was still open; with the company’s board being clear that “all resources available to the company should be applied to meeting our responsibilities” in the Gulf.