BP Settles Up For $7.8 Billion Over Oil Spill

March 4, 2012

BP says it has reached a $7.8 billion settlement with plaintiffs, both businesses and individuals, that had sued over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion and oil spill.

BP said in a company release that the settlement will be paid out of the $20 billion victim compensation trust fund that it had set up. A trial had been scheduled to start Monday in New Orleans on liability for the explosion. With the settlement, the trial now won’t go forward, though the court must approve the settlement terms.

BP has said it has spent more than $20 billion in the aftermath of the April 2010 explosion that ended up causing the largest oil spill in U.S. history. The majority of that was money spent responding, but that also includes more than $8 billion paid out to business owners who lost money because of the spill’s effect on beaches, and repaid to local governments for their response and cleanup costs.

The company still faces claims by the federal government for violations of the Clean Water Act and other damages. The company may also continue to face other litigation, such as claims filed by shareholders.

Comments

3 Responses to “BP Settles Up For $7.8 Billion Over Oil Spill”

  1. 429SCJ on March 6th, 2012 6:31 am

    I think you are probably correct. I just do not think it was right to place Mr Fineburg in the almost impossible position, of having to release and distribute those funds.

  2. 430SCJ on March 4th, 2012 10:05 pm

    If the money would’ve went to the government none of it would’ve been given out to the people!

  3. 429SCJ on March 4th, 2012 9:30 am

    Why was BP doing the spending. BP should have transfered $20 BIllion to the US Treasury and let the US Government dole out the funds, moreover the $20 Billion was for victims of the spill, not to include operations cost. Clean up should have come out of another pot of BP’s money.