ANKARA
British Petroleum has reached a settlement with the U.S. government and five Gulf Coast states to pay $18.7 billion for the oil spill in Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the global energy giant announced Thursday.
The British company said that it had reached agreements in principle to settle all claims of the U.S. federal government and the U.S. Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, and would pay the amount over the next 18 years.
The agreement also includes settlement of claims made by more than 400 local government entities, BP said in an official statement on its website.
BP will pay the U.S. a civil penalty of $5.5 billion under the Clean Water Act over 15 years; $7.1 billion to the U.S. and the five Gulf states over 15 years for natural resource damages; a total of $4.9 billion will be paid to settle economic and other claims made by the five Gulf Coast states over 18 years; and up to $1 billion to resolve claims made by more than 400 local government entities.
According to local media in the U.S., the settlement "brings BP's total tab for the spill to $53.8 billion, more than its combined profits since 2012".
"For BP, this agreement will resolve the largest liabilities remaining from the tragic accident and enable BP to focus on safely delivering the energy the world needs," Bob Dudley, BP’s group chief executive, said in the statement.
"For the U.S. and the Gulf in particular, this agreement will deliver a significant income stream over many years for further restoration of natural resources and for losses related to the spill," he added.
BP’s chief financial officer, Brian Gilvary, said that the negotiations were carried out with the goal of reaching a collective solution that would be acceptable for all parties.
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, also referred to as “Deepwater Horizon blowout” and the Macondo oil disaster, began in April 20, 2010 after the Transocean-owned and BP-operated Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico blew out and took the lives of 11 workers, marking it the biggest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
