by Jacob Goldstein

BP is supposed to pay shareholders $2.6 billion in dividends later this summer.

But politicians in the U.S. have been pushing the company to hold off. The idea is to get the company to hold on to cash it may need to pay for cleaining up the oil spill.

On the other hand, BP dividends are a big source of funding for British pensions, and British politicians have started pushing back. Prime Minister David Cameron cited the "economic value" created by BP, the FT reports.

The company, for its part, appears to be looking for some sort of middle ground. The CEO told the WSJ that BP "is considering all options on the dividend."

And the Times of London is reporting today that BP may hold off on paying the dividend, and keep the money in an escrow account "until the full scale of the company’s liabilities" from the spill are clear.