US President Barack Obama has told British Prime Minister David Cameron that he has had "no interest in undermining" the value of BP following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The two leaders said BP should continue to work intensively to deal with what they called a human and environmental catastrophe when they discussed the issue in a 30-minute phone call. Obama expressed his steadfast view that frustrations about the oil spill have nothing to do with national identity. Cameron stressed the economic importance of BP to the UK, US and other countries. The two leaders discussed the crisis against the backdrop of public anger and political pressure on both sides of the Atlantic over the spill.