Leaders of a key US House of Representatives Committee said the embattled firm, still reeling from the disaster's impact, told them Monday that it had shelled out 93.4 million dollars on ads from the spill through July 2010.

"This is more than three times the amount the company spent on advertising during the same period in 2009," Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak said in a letter to a colleague made public by the committee.

"BP also provided 89.5 million dollars in grants to aid tourism promotion efforts in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana," states most at risk for losing tourism revenue because of the catastrophe, they wrote.

The company told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that it had boosted advertising spending notably "to keep Gulf Coast residents informed of issues relating to the oil spill and recovery and to ensure transparency during the recovery process," the lawmakers said.

The increased spending went "almost entirely" to national and local newspapers and magazines as well as national and local television advertising, with just "a small portion" going to Internet ads, the lawmakers said.

BP told the panel it had aired fewer television and radio spots in April-July 2010 than April-July 2009, but that a higher percentage were national and ran to longer 60-second spots, they said.

The company also "significantly expanded" its local newspaper advertising, from two states and Washington in 2009 to 17 states over the same stretch in 2010, the lawmakers said.

Waxman and Stupak provided the details of the commercial blitz to Democratic Representative Kathy Castor of Florida, who had suggested looking into BP's advertising in the wake of the spill.

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