It would be a "horror", a "disaster", according to lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama to administer BP Plc's $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill. "That is not an option."

Feinberg was talking about a bankruptcy filing by BP in a Fox News interview.

"Bankruptcy absolutely is an option, and the United States needs to recognize that," said Peter Kaufman, president and head of restructuring and distressed M&A at the Gordian Group, an investment bank in New York.