Mar-05-2012

BP spill accord will track related health issues, pay victims

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NEW YORK: BP PLC has reached an estimated $7.8 billion agreement with plaintiffs suing over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the company said on Friday, but it still faces claims by the U.S. government and drilling partners. He also adjourned the first phase of the trial over the spill, which had been scheduled to begin on March 5. Barbier had previously delayed the start of the trial to allow a group called the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, or PSC, to continue to negotiate a settlement with BP. The committee represents the interests of fisherman and businesses who say their livelihoods were damaged by the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent spill from the Macondo well. It said the proposed settlement was not an admission of liability by the company, and that BP would assign to the PSC some of its claims against Transocean and Halliburton. [1] NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - The estimated $7.8 billion deal struck by BP Plc with businesses and individuals suing over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill could speed up payments to thousands of claimants and offers lawyers a potential windfall in legal fees. London-based BP announced the deal on Friday with the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, or PSC, which represents condominium owners, fishermen, hoteliers, restaurateurs and others who say their livelihoods were damaged by the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent oil spill. The settlement, which delayed a giant trial that had been set to get under way in a New Orleans federal court on Monday is a step by BP toward resolving its liability in the case, which could stretch into the tens of billions of dollars. [2]

BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning after an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. NEW YORK: The U.S. government vowed to press ahead with its $US18 billion ($16.7 billion) legal action against BP, despite the oil company's $US7.8 billion settlement with 110,000 Gulf of Mexico businesses and individuals over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In a strongly worded statement, the U.S. Department of Justice said the settlement ''by no means fully addresses its responsibility for the harms it has caused'' or meant that BP had paid for ''its violation of law''. [3] CHICAGO — Oil giant BP's agreement of a $7.8 billion settlement for victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill will not end its legal headaches or erase the disaster for some U.S. southern coast residents. "No amount of money will bring him back anyway," Sherri Revette, whose husband, Dewey, was a driller on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig when it exploded on April 20, 2010, told AFP. "It probably got him right from the get-go," she said about her deceased husband, who was sitting almost directly over the blast site. [4]

Global oil giant BP has reached a proposed settlement estimated at $7.8 billion with the more than 120,000 plaintiffs in the massive civil lawsuit arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. As part of the settlement announced Friday night, BP will pay people and businesses for their economic losses and medical claims and establish a 21-year medical consultation program for victims of the spill and the cleanup along the Gulf Coast. [5] BP estimates it will pay out $7.8 billion to compensate oil spill victims, but there's no cap on claims. Plaintiff Chris Nelson of Bon Secour Fisheries, a seafood processor on the Alabama Gulf Coast, isn't yet sure whether the settlement will satisfy his family's claim for lost business. He's somewhat disappointed the trial has been delayed. [6]

The proposed settlement between BP and the group of lawyers appointed to lead the litigation for individual and business plaintiffs will shut down the current claims process and create a new fund, administered by the court. It will use money set aside by BP for the $US20 billion escrow fund that was being used to pay claims of economic loss and other expenses resulting from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. [7] BP's willingness to agree to a settlement with no cap will help it in future settlement talks with states and the federal government, experts say. BP is facing Clean Water Act fines of $5.4 billion to $21.1 billion, depending on whether BP is judged to have been grossly negligent in its design, construction and operation of the well. Eric Schaeffer, who investigated oil spills for the Environmental Protection Agency as a former head of civil enforcement, said that a settlement could reduce those charges by half. The proposed settlement announced Friday could also help BP work with the government in the future as it drills for oil in the federally controlled waters in the Gulf, one of the most important drilling regions in the world for BP. It's especially important for BP because its reputation was already tarnished from other recent environmental disasters, including a Texas City refinery fire in 2005 that killed 15 people and pipeline spills in 2006, 2009 and 2011 in Alaska. "If the government doesn't have confidence in the company because of their track record, it's going to look harder for a reason to reject their permit," Schaeffer said. In the wake of the disaster, BP was forced to cut its dividend, issue debt and begin selling off assets to raise money to pay for the spill. It has sold $21 billion worth of oil fields, refineries and chemical plants on four continents, and it is trying to sell assets worth another $17 billion. [8] BP also faces claims from Gulf states as well as its drilling partners. The U.S. Justice Department said it hoped the settlement would result in swift compensation to those harmed. "The United States will continue to work closely with all five Gulf states to ensure that any resolution of the federal law enforcement and damage claims, including natural resources damages, arising out of this unprecedented environmental disaster is just, fair and restores the Gulf for the benefit of the people of the Gulf states," he said. "It also paves the way for BP to negotiate agreements with the federal and state governments and begin the process of moving beyond the Gulf oil spill," he said. [1] BP also faces claims from Gulf states as well as its drilling partners. "Delays or deals made by other players do not change the facts of this case and we are fully prepared to argue the merits of our case based on those facts," said a spokesman for Transocean. "The United States will continue to work closely with all five Gulf states to ensure that any resolution of the federal law enforcement and damage claims, including natural resources damages, arising out of this unprecedented environmental disaster is just, fair and restores the Gulf for the benefit of the people of the Gulf states," department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said. "It also paves the way for BP to negotiate agreements with the federal and state governments and begin the process of moving beyond the Gulf oil spill," he said. [9]

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday's settlement is not the end of the road. "The United States will continue to work closely with all five Gulf states to ensure that any resolution of the federal law enforcement and damage claims, including natural resources damages, arising out of this unprecedented environmental disaster is just, fair and restores the Gulf for the benefit of the people of the Gulf states," the agency said in a statement. BP's payout estimate includes what the company internally predicts legal fees for the numerous plaintiffs lawyers in the case will be, though the issue has not yet been discussed between the two sides, according to a person with direct knowledge of the settlement terms who spoke on condition of anonymity because those details are confidential. That could be a deal-breaker for people who have spent nearly two years trying to get money directly from BP or through the Feinberg-run fund that took over the claims process in August 2010, four months after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Many have been pursuing their claims without a lawyer and therefore have not had to pay such fees. They also could balk at the idea of potentially having to start their entire claims process over again, or at least the prospect of delaying the compensation they desperately need. [10] NEW YORK -- BP's multibillion-dollar settlement deal with people and businesses harmed by its 2010 oil spill removes some uncertainty about the potential financial damages it faces. It also may help the company restore its all-important relationship with the federal government. FILE - In this April 21, 2010 file photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, fire boat response crews spray water on the blazing remnants of BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig. [8] BP Plc (BP\) said it reached a $7.8 billion settlement with businesses and individuals over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster, removing one of three major litigation fronts facing the company over the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history. [11] BP PLC has agreed to a settlement with thousands of individuals and businesses affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that the company estimates will cost it about $7.8 billion. [12]

In the early hours of this morning, BP took a big and expensive step towards finalising the financial bill it will face from its 2010 oil spill from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. It has agreed to pay $7.8bn to settle claims from an estimated 110,000 people and businesses, after a week of late-night negotiations under the supervision of Judge Sally Shushan in New Orleans. A senior BP executive told me he saw the settlement as a "big step", because it "reduces the complexity greatly". [13] The U.S. government vowed to press ahead with its $18bn (£11bn) legal action against BP despite the oil giant's $7.8bn settlement with 110,000 Gulf of Mexico businesses and individuals over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. [14]

BP Plc has reached an estimated $7.8 billion deal with businesses suing over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the company said, but the oil giant still faces claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states and drilling partners. [9] The $7.8 billion oil spill settlement between BP PLC and thousands of residents and businesses along the Gulf of Mexico clears the way for what may become a far more expensive battle between the oil giant and the U.S. government. [15]

The momentous settlement will have no cap to compensate the plaintiffs, though BP PLC estimated it would have to pay out about $7.8 billion, making it one of the largest class-action settlements ever. FILE - In this May 24, 2010 file photo, BP PLC CEO Tony Hayward speaks during a news conference on Fourchon Beach in Port Fourchon, La. BP agreed late Friday March 2, 2012 to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history. The spill exposed oil industry failings, and forced BP chief executive Tony Hayward to step down after the company's repeated gaffes, including his infamous statement at the height of the crisis: "I'd like my life back." [8] BP will pay an estimated $7.8 billion to settle a lawsuit over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill with attorneys representing thousands of individual plaintiffs and businesses on the eve of a major trial in a New Orleans federal court, the company said Friday night. [16]

To date that fund has paid out about $6.5 billion. Many alleged victims of the spill rejected compensation offers made by the fund's administrator, preferring to take their chances in civil court. The settlement is open not just to those who filed claims before it was reached, but to others who come forward with future claims, including potentially thousands of residents and cleanup workers who believe they were harmed by exposure to oil or chemical dispersants used in the cleanup, the plaintiffs' attorneys said. BP said the settlement would have "no net impact to either the income or cash flow statements," but added that it was "possible" that "the actual cost could be higher or lower than this estimate depending on the outcomes of the court-supervised claims process." "This settlement reflects our commitment not only to the gulf region, but also to the United States as a whole," BP Chief Executive Robert Dudley said. [5] Gilvary said it wouldn't be appropriate to comment on settlement negotiations with federal or state governments. The settlement with individuals and businesses "removes a significant amount of uncertainty for the company in terms of the outlook, but also financially," he said. Stuart Joyner, an analyst at Investec Securities Ltd., said shares are about 25 percent below where they would be without the accident. The settlement with victims may push up shares 5 percent, he said. "It's by no means over, but by settling with the largest group, BP is in a stronger position to negotiate with the government," Joyner said. "BP can say they've made it right. The government is after an element of punishment, but if they get too tough it will look like they're really going after the company, which they said they wouldn't do." BP said the proposed settlement won't increase the $37.2 billion charge it previously recorded in its financial statements for costs associated with the spill. That figure includes the $20 billion BP set aside for the claims trust fund. [17] The company has paid out $26.6 billion in claims and to contributions to the victims' trust fund, and it must pay $4.9 billion more into the trust to fully fund it. That leaves the company with $5.7 billion to pay fines and other penalties from states, the federal government and others. That would be enough to cover federal environmental fines only if BP pays the minimum fines of $1,100 per barrel of oil spilled or reaches a favorable settlement with states and the federal government. [8] The settlement agreement announced Friday would apply to tens of thousands of victims across the Gulf Coast but does not resolve lawsuits with federal, state and local governments or address environmental damage. Those other claims could total up to $25 billion. BP expects the settlement to be paid out of the remainder of a trust that the company had established to pay these types of claims. [8] BP would close the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which originally had $20 billion. Such a settlement wouldn't include fines by the federal government, lawsuits by state governments or claims between BP and partner companies involved in the disaster, the people familiar with it said. [18]

The agreement will provide for a transition from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility trust, through which BP has paid about $6.1 billion for more than 220,000 claims from individuals and businesses, the company said. "It is not possible at this time to determine whether the $20 billion trust will be sufficient to satisfy all of these claims as well as those under the proposed settlement," BP said. [11]

BP Plc (BP\) may face as much as $17.6 billion in civil pollution fines and possibly billions of dollars more in criminal penalties as its settlement with businesses and individuals harmed by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill shifts the focus to government claims. [19] BP's multibillion-dollar settlement with those who suffered medical or economic damages in the 2010 Gulf oil spill leaves the company facing environmental claims for which state and federal governments will demand billions more. [20] The book, to be published March 26, is timely: a federal judge has delayed until March 5 a trial to decide who should pay for the oil spill damage so BP can continue negotiating a settlement with Gulf fishermen, restaurant owners and other plaintiffs whose livelihoods the oil spill affected. "Run to Failure" will either complement negative daily headlines of a trial expected to last almost a year or, perhaps, revive the tragedy just as BP executives thought they'd resolved it. "Much of this book was written without the cooperation of BP and its executives," Lustgarten states. "The company repeatedly declined to offer its executives for interviews or to allow me or my colleagues tours of its facilities. [21]

The plaintiffs' attorneys issued a statement sketching out the basics of the plan. It asserted that the company was now "obligated to fully satisfy all eligible claims under the terms of the court-supervised settlement, irrespective of the funds previously set aside." "We are extremely pleased to bring justice to those harmed by the BP gulf oil spill," Stephen J. Herman and James P. Roy, the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs, said in the statement. "This settlement will provide a full measure of compensation to hundreds of thousands in a transparent and expeditious manner under rigorous judicial oversight. It does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people." In Venice, La., fisherman and plaintiff Acy Cooper Jr. said he hadn't heard all of the details of the deal Friday night. He said that it had to be good news for a local fishing industry that suffered mightily after the April 20, 2010, accident, when prime fishing waters were cut off to commercial anglers and sport fishermen and the reputation of the region's seafood was tarnished worldwide. "It's good they settled," Cooper said. [5] BP has reached a £4.9bn ($7.8bn) deal with thousands of people hit by by the oil giant's Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. The proposed settlement will compensate hundred of thousands of fisherman and businesses who say their livelihoods were damaged by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster. [22] BP said on Friday it reached a $7.2 billion deal to settle claims from fishermen and other private claimants affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill ahead of the start of a blockbuster U.S. trial. [23] The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana in April 2010, killing 11 workers and spewing more than 200 million gallons of oil from an undersea well owned by BP. The rig, owned by Transocean Ltd., sank two days later. Transocean and cement contractor Halliburton Co. have rejected recent overtures to settle their claims with BP and pay billions of dollars, according to two people close to the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential. "Delays or deals made by other players do not change the facts of this case and we are fully prepared to argue the merits of our case based on those facts," Transocean said in a statement. [24] Barbier, who will preside over any trial, would decide whether BP can demand other companies involved in the spill pick up some of the estimated $26 billion in costs spawned by the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon. "Delays or deals made by other players do not change the facts of this case and we are fully prepared to argue the merits of our case based on those facts," Lou Colasuonno, a Transocean spokesman, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement about the settlement. [11]

BP said a stronger-than-expected end to 2010, in which high oil prices lifted fourth quarter profit by 30 percent, was not enough to avoid a full-year loss of $3.7 billion. It raised to $40.9 billion its estimate for the overall cost of the spill, the charge covering the cost of the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers in April, as well as plugging the well and cleaning up the southern U.S. coast. [25] The April 20, 2010 explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 workers, blackened beaches in five U.S. states and devastated the Gulf Coast's tourism and fishing industries. It took 87 days to cap BP's runaway well 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the surface which spewed some 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. [23] The April 20, 2010 explosion aboard the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon killed 11 workers and spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of . It took 87 days to cap the well, some 5,000 feet below the surface and 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Several government probes spread the blame among BP, Transocean and Halliburton and castigated them for cutting corners and missing warning signs that could have prevented the disaster. [25]

BP Plc (BP/), Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co. (HAL), with billions of dollars on the line, are set to find out from a federal judge who among them is to blame for the April 20, 2010, explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. [26]

BP still has to resolve claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states and its partners in the doomed Deepwater Horizon project, in which pressure from a well a mile below the ocean's surface blew up a massive drilling rig, killing 11 men and spewing oil into the sea for nearly three months. That could add billions of more to its tab. [27] NEW ORLEANS -- BP's settlement of lawsuits filed by more than 100,000 victims of the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history goes a long way toward resolving pending claims. FILE - In this April 21, 2010 file photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, fire boat response crews spray water on the blazing remnants of BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig. [28] BP's announcement that it will pay $7.8 billion to compensate thousands of Gulf Coast residents harmed in the Deepwater Horizon disaster ends one chapter of legal wrangling over the 2010 oil spill, but leaves other, potentially far more expensive, issues unresolved. [29] London, (IANS/EFE) British oil supermajor BP Plc said it has reached an out-of-court settlement estimated at $7.8 billion with victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [30] BP Plc has reached an estimated $7.8 billion deal with businesses suing over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [9]

Some of that business will now drop off. BP settled part of its claim out of court and some of the lawyer "war rooms" in luxury hotels will now be dismantled. BP's $7.8bn (£4.9bn) settlement with business and individuals hit by its Macondo well oil spill was higher than expected but it is likely to be welcomed by the City as it has removed a great deal of uncertainty. [31] While lawyers for plaintiffs whose cases have been consolidated before Barbier proposed the settlement, attorneys for other spill victims may oppose it. Brent Coon, a Houston-based lawyer representing spill victims both in federal and state courts, said in a Feb. 27 interview that he worried the $14 billion remaining in BP’s trust fund wouldn’t provide enough compensation for those harmed in the disaster. Plaintiffs’ lawyers and the companies still haven’t been able to pin down the total number of claims tied to the spill because filing deadlines don’t expire for a year, he said. “The total claims could double from where they are now,” Coon said. Another problem with the settlement proposal is lawyers for the steering committee don’t represent the majority of victims in the case, Coon said, which he said raises questions about their ability to act in the best interests of all claimants. “A very small minority of lawyers are negotiating a deal that leaves them in control of the purse strings and let’s them dole it out,” he said. [32] While lawyers for plaintiffs whose cases have been consolidated before Barbier proposed the settlement, attorneys for other spill victims may oppose it as inadequate, the people familiar said. Brent Coon, a Houston-based lawyer for spill victims, said another problem with the settlement proposal is lawyers for the steering committee don't represent the majority of victims in the case, which he said raises questions about their ability to act in the best interests of all claimants. Barbier has scheduled a three-phase trial: In the first phase, he will determine which companies share blame for the explosion, and whether any of them engaged in gross negligence or willful misconduct. Such a finding might trigger punitive damages -- or damages meant to punish rather than compensate for losses -- to be paid to non-government plaintiffs. Those companies sued by the federal government would face enhanced penalties under the U.S. Clean Water Act. [18]

BP and a Plaintiffs' Steering Committee that negotiated for thousands of individuals and businesses struck the deal just ahead of the scheduled Monday start of a trial on litigation from the disaster. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of New Orleans, who would have conducted the trial and must approve the settlement, has delayed the trial indefinitely while he and remaining parties sort out the issues still pending and how to address them. These include civil claims by state and federal governments, an ongoing criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, cross-claims among BP and other companies involved in the Macondo project, and individual plaintiffs who may choose to opt out of the class action deal. [20]

NEW YORK -- BP's multibillion-dollar settlement deal with people and businesses harmed by its 2010 oil spill removes some uncertainty about the potential financial damages it faces. It also may help the company restore its all-important relationship with the federal government. [33] BP's settlement deal Friday night puts the oil company one giant step closer to containing the gusher of damage claims that arose from the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [34]

Outstanding government claims against the company include allegations of Clean Water Act violations and natural resource damages under the Oil Pollution Act. The settlement also "excludes certain other claims against BP, such as securities and shareholder claims" which are part of separate litigation in a federal court in Houston. "It is not possible at this time to determine whether the $20bn trust will be sufficient to satisfy all these claims as well as those under the proposed settlement," BP said. [31] The proposed settlement does not include claims against BP made by the United States Department of Justice or other federal agencies (including under the Clean Water Act and for Natural Resource Damages under the Oil Pollution Act) or by the states and local governments. [35]

Friday's settlement effectively split off individual claims from the thornier issues of assessing and paying for long-term environmental damage. Those questions will begin to be addressed in the civil suits brought by several states and the U.S. government under the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act alleging BP acted negligently. [29]

The tentative deal, announced late Friday, does not address state lawsuits and federal claims under the Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act, which could cost BP as much as $21 billion more. It has little to do with efforts to assess the extent of environmental damage and to pay for them; that will come later. [29] The shares will probably rise to a minimum of 520 pence from the close of 496.5 pence in London on March 2, according to the forecasts of five oil-industry analysts. BP officials said their estimates showed the PSC spill settlement would cost the company at least $7.8 billion. They said the figure didn't amount to a cap of how much the company would pay to resolve claims over the disaster. [19] Under the settlement announced Friday, BP said it expects to pay out $7.8 billion to settle a wide range of claims that also include property damage, lost wages and loss to businesses. Nicole Maurer, a resident of this fishing community, said she feels optimistic about getting medical bills paid under the court-supervised process. She blames the spill for a number of her family's health problems. [36] Under the settlement announced Friday, BP said it expects to pay $7.8 billion for a variety of claims that also include property damage, lost wages and loss to businesses. Nicole Maurer, a resident of this fishing community, said she feels optimistic about having medical bills paid under the court-supervised process. She blames the spill for a number of her family's health problems. Claimants will have to show that they became sick from the spill. To receive compensation, they will be examined by a court-approved health-care practitioner. [37]

Analysts said Saturday that the settlement announced late Friday is a significant step. BP estimated the cost of the settlement at $7.8 billion, but it contains no cap on damages and therefore could be higher or lower depending upon how many plaintiffs accept it and how much they're paid. "It strikes me as a reasonable settlement for both sides," said David Uhlmann, the former head of the U.S. Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section. "It is a substantial amount of money and should be sufficient to compensate everyone who suffered financial losses for the spill. [20] BP already paid $26.6 billion in cleanup costs and economic damages to individuals, businesses and governments harmed by the spill, it said Feb. 7. The energy company lowered its reserve to cover costs tied to the sinking of the rig to $37.2 billion from more than $40 billion, after reaching settlements. [26] The proposed settlement between BP and lawyers for businesses and individuals would transfer the $14 billion remaining in a company fund set aside for out-of-court settlements to plaintiffs' lawyers. They would then distribute the funds to clients based on the harm suffered. [18] BP was in talks with lawyers for the spill victims over a $14 billion proposal to be funded with money set aside for out- of-court settlements, three people familiar with the matter previously said. Under that plan, BP would close the trust and shift the remaining funds to plaintiffs, said the people, who declined to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly. [11]

BP said it expects to pay the settlement from the money remaining in a $20 billion escrow account, or trust fund, it set up during the spill to resolve individual and business claims without going to court. [16] The $20 billion fund started by BP and administered by Kenneth Feinberg, known as the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, has paid out $6.5 billion to 225,000 claimants, all of whom signed agreements not to pursue legal action against BP. Of 120,000 individuals and businesses listed in the lawsuit, 50,000 never filed a claim through the facility, as required under federal law, and 45,000 say they never signed up for the lawsuit even though they appear in court filings, according to facility records. [38] As of Jan. 17, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility has paid out nearly $6 billion from the fund to more than 569,000 individuals and businesses. BP waived a $75 million cap on its liability for certain economic damage claims under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, though it denied any gross negligence. [24] One positive development: Pending offers before the GCCF will be honored, according to the person with knowledge of the settlement terms. Feinberg said the announcement of the settlement was good news and he was happy with the work of the fund he ran. "I point with significant pride and satisfaction to the achievements of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility: reviewing over one million claims submitted by 573,000 claimants and paying some $6.1 billion to approximately 225,000 individuals and businesses in just over 18 months," he said in a statement Saturday. "I believe the GCCF has successfully fulfilled its mandate, and urge an orderly transition to the new proposed claims program." [39]

"The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast." Prior to the proposed settlement, BP had spent more than $22bn toward meeting its commitments in the Gulf and had paid out more than $8.1bn to individuals, businesses and government entities. [31] "From the beginning, BP stepped up to meet our obligations to the communities in the Gulf Coast region, and we've worked hard to deliver on that commitment for nearly two years," said Bob Dudley, BP Group CEO. "The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast." [35]

BP officials portrayed the settlement as one of a number of programs the company has undertaken to repay Gulf Coast residents, while assuring investors that the company has anticipated liabilities from the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. [29]

The U.S. government says it will continue its case against BP over the Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill despite a deal the company reached on Friday with the largest group of private claimants. [40] BP says it has reached a $7.8bn (£4.9bn) deal with the largest group of plaintiffs suing the company over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill. It will benefit some 100,000 fishermen, local residents and clean-up workers whose livelihoods or health suffered. [41]

According to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust, current total trust assets are approximately $9.5 billion. The spill exposed oil industry failings and forced BP chief executive Tony Hayward to step down after the company's repeated gaffes, including his infamous statement at the height of the crisis: "I'd like my life back." He was jettisoned off to work for a BP affiliate in Russia and has since left that company. [42] According to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Trust, current total trust assets are approximately $9.5 billion. The spill exposed oil industry failings, forced BP chief executive Tony Hayward to step down after his repeated gaffes and led to new lexicon in American vocabulary as crews used innovative attempts to plug the spewing well, such as the top kill and the junk shot. [27]

BP has reached a settlement with the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC), subject to final written agreement, to resolve the substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims stemming from the Deepwater Horizon accident and oil spill. [35] Claims filed by the five Gulf Coast states are also outstanding. In a statement Friday, spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said the Justice Department was "hopeful" that the private plaintiffs' claims would "provide swift and sure compensation to those harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill." As for the outstanding federal claims, he said, the department was "prepared to hold the responsible parties accountable for the damage suffered in the gulf region. [5] Smoke billows from controlled oil burns near the site of the BP Plc Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, U.S., on Saturday, June 19, 2010. [11] FILE - In a Saturday, June 12, 2010 file photo, crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill washes ashore in Orange Beach, Ala. BP agreed late Friday March 2, 2012 to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history. [8]

BOOTHEVILLE, La. -- A settlement that BP is working out with victims of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will provide a system for monitoring health concerns and compensating people whose illnesses are found to have a link to the disaster. Gulf Coast residents say they're happy that their complaints are getting a serious look, even if they'll face hurdles in proving that rashes, shortness of breath and other maladies were caused by the oil or the chemical dispersants sprayed to break it up. [37] The oil spill that followed blackened beaches in five U.S. states and devastated the Gulf Coast's tourism and fishing industries. It took 87 days to cap BP's runaway well 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) below the water surface as it spewed 4.9 million barrels (206 million gallons) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. [4] Eleven oil workers were killed in the explosion, while the spill had a devastating environmental impact in the Gulf region. Poor management decisions by BP Plc at its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico were the main causes of last year's disastrous oil spill, U.S. agencies said last September. [30] The trial centers on the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, which killed 11 workers and unleashed the largest oil spill on U.S. waters. Many of the fishermen and business owners hurt by the spill are betting their livelihoods on the proceedings. [38] The spill, which poured as much as 4.9 million barrels of oil into the gulf, was triggered by a blowout at BP's Macondo well on April 20, 2010, killing 11 and sinking the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. [16] The April 2010 Macondo well blowout destroyed the Deepwater Horizon, killed 11 workers and sent more than 4 million barrels of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico over three months. It spawned hundreds of suits against BP, Vernier, Switzerland-based Transocean, owner and operator of the rig, and Houston-based Halliburton Co. opnbrktHALclsbrkt, provider of cementing services on site. [11] The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana in April 2010, killing 11 workers and spewing more than 200 million gallons of oil from an undersea well owned by BP. The rig, owned by Transocean Ltd., sank two days later. [43]

Twenty-two months after BPs Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 men and sending an estimated 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, BP, Halliburton, Transocean and a clutch of other companies have been preparing to face the legal music. [44]

The Deepwater Horizon accident, the largest maritime spill ever, involved a massive response by the U.S. government to contain what experts concluded was a preventable disaster caused by misjudgments by three major oil drilling companies: BP, Halliburton and Transocean. [45] A comparable spill occurred last November from an appraisal well in Brazil's Campos basin operated by Chevron. Federal investigators threatened fines and even prison terms for Chevron officials, but a federal judge declined to grant an injunction suspending Chevron's Brazilian operations and those of the oil rig contractor, Transocean, the company that owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon for BP. [46] The companies are blaming one another as well. BP accused Transocean of breaching its contractual duty to maintain the drilling rig adequately, to fix engine problems, to train its crew and to coordinate efforts to fight fires on the vessel properly. “The simple fact is that on April 20, 2010, every single safety system and device and well control procedure on the Deepwater Horizon failed, resulting in the casualty,” BP said in its complaint. BP said a Halliburton engineer and others at the company concealed problems with its foam cement slurry before and after the explosion. [26] BP's market value has dropped by about 29 billion pounds ($45 billion) since the explosion on April 20, 2010, on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and started the spill. [17] In a statement, the company said the money will be paid from a $20 billion trust set up after the April 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and subsequent spill, which lasted for three months and was the largest in U.S. history. [30] A group of individuals and businesses who sued the company have agreed to settle for nearly $8 billion. The plaintiffs all say they were harmed when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, killing 11 men, and leading to the massive spill. [47]

The settlement with the businesses and individuals is at the top end of what BP expected to pay. That is clear because it reduces the spare capacity from $5.5bn to $3.4bn in the $37.2bn that BP has set aside to cover all costs arising from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. [13] BP estimated that it would have to pay about $7.8 billion in the Deepwater Horizon disaster settlement. [48]

Oppenheimer & Sons oil analyst Fadel Gheit said BP's $7.8 billion estimate "is slightly above half the circulated figure of $14 billion." He said the settlement is "very positive for BP and could speed up government settlement and remove this dark cloud that has been hanging over BP for two years." "This lifts much of the legal overhang, though not all of it," he said. "If this is not a manifestation of BP's financial strength, I don't know what is," Molchanov added. "They are drawing a line under Macondo so they as a company can play offense again rather than defense." [34] BP estimates that the cost of the proposed settlement, expected to be paid from the $20 billion Trust, would be approximately $7.8 billion. Prior to the proposed settlement, BP had spent more than $22 billion toward meeting its commitments in the Gulf. [35] The amount that can be further provided with no net impact to the income statement therefore is expected to be reduced from approximately $5.5 billion to approximately $3.4 billion. While BP has sought to reliably estimate the cost of this proposed settlement, it is possible that the actual cost could be higher or lower than this estimate depending on the outcomes of the court-supervised claims processes. In accordance with its normal procedures, BP will re-evaluate the assumptions underlying this estimate on a quarterly basis as more information, including the outcomes of the court-supervised claims processes, becomes available. It is not possible at this time to determine whether the $20 billion Trust will be sufficient to satisfy all of these claims as well as those under the proposed settlement. [35] The settlement will allow victims who aren't satisfied with the deal to "opt out," according to BP. BP said in its statement that the proposed settlement won't increase the $37.2 billion charge it previously recorded in its financial statements for spill costs. [11]

Within the $37.2bn for total estimated costs, BP allocated $20bn for a Trust that would satisfy legitimate individual and business claims and a variety of claims from state and local government. BP said this morning that "it is not possible at this time to determine whether the $20bn Trust will be sufficient to satisfy all of these claims as well as those under the proposed settlement". [13] The proposed agreement to resolve medical claims involves payments based on a matrix for certain currently manifested physical conditions, as well as a 21-year medical consultation program for qualifying class members. It also provides that class members claiming later-manifested physical conditions may pursue their claims through a mediation/litigation process. Consistent with its commitment to the Gulf, BP would also provide $105 million to improve the availability, scope and quality of healthcare in Gulf communities. This healthcare outreach program would be available to all individuals in those communities, regardless of whether they are class members. Under the proposed settlement, class members would release and dismiss their claims against BP. The proposed settlement is not an admission of liability by BP. The proposed settlement also provides that, to the extent permitted by law, BP will assign to the PSC certain of its claims, rights and recoveries against Transocean and Halliburton for damages not recoverable from BP. The proposed settlement is subject to reaching definitive and fully-documented agreements within 45 days, and if those agreements are not reached, either party has the right to terminate the proposed settlement. [35]

In a separate ruling, Barbier held that Halliburton must be indemnified under the drilling contract. Both decisions are subject to reversal if the court finds these companies’ conduct violated the contract, the judge said. In its settlement with BP, Houston-based Cameron in December agreed to pay $250 million to the well owner, in exchange for indemnity for all compensatory damage claims. [26]

The settlement announced Friday would apply to tens of thousands of victims along the Gulf Coast, including fishermen who lost work and cleanup workers who got sick. It still needs approval of a federal court in New Orleans. BP expects to pay the victims using the remainder of a trust fund that the company had established to pay these types of claims. [49] The settlement was made between BP and the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee (PSC), which represents 110,000 local businesses and individuals from the U.S. Gulf coast who claim to have lost out financially as a result of the spill. [14] Even after the settlement with businesses and individuals, BP still faces lawsuits filed by the U.S. government and the Gulf Coast states. [30]

The lawsuits were filed mostly by people who sought greater damages than were likely to be met by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, the BP fund that has compensated residents for economic losses since mid-2010. Because the settlement will be paid out of the same fund, and amounts to a little more than half of what remains in it, it's not yet clear how much plaintiffs will receive or what will happen to other claimants if the fund runs dry. [29] BP has already paid out about $6.1 billion to compensate about 220,000 plaintiffs from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, or GCCF, a trust fund administered by Kenneth Feinberg. [50] As part of the settlement, the fund created by BP to pay interim claims, the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which was administered by Kenneth Feinberg, will be wound up. [13]

"The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast," Bob Dudley, BP's chief executive, said in a statement. [4] A partial settlement of claims against BP for the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in the U.S. is very close, sources have told the BBC. [51] Mr Dudley certainly gives the impression of man convinced that BP is on the mend. What has prompted this optimism is the weekend announcement that BP had settled legal claims following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that killed 11 people and dumped crude along the Gulf of Mexico coastline. [52]

The U.S. government is also investigating whether there are criminal charges to be brought, amid claims BP was responsible for the millions of barrels of oil which flowed into the Gulf following an explosion on the Deepwater rig in April 2010. [14]

One reason that government and plaintiffs' lawyers haven't agreed to settle may be a desire to make BP suffer some bad publicity generated by trial testimony, Tobias said. "That kind of negative publicity never does any company any good," he said. "That may be a factor in the settlement calculus." Earlier this month, BP reached an accord with co-defendant M-I Swaco, a unit of Houston-based oil services company Schlumberger Ltd. opnbrktSLBclsbrkt that employed two of the 11 workers killed in the rig's explosion. [18] Before the spill, George Barisich, 56, a St. Bernard Parish shrimper and oyster farmer, would sell 5,000 to 8,000 sacks of fresh oysters a year. He's sold only 300 sacks in the two years since the spill, he says. Freshwater diversions opened by state officials to repel the encroaching oil killed many of the oysters in his reefs. He's earned only a fraction of the $500,000 he was projected to make in the two years since the spill, and his 400 acres of oyster reefs need about $400,000 worth of harvesting and fixing, he says. Last year, administrators of the $20 billion compensation fund set up by BP offered Barisich a $25,000 final payment, and earlier payments by the fund weren't enough, he says. He turned it down, called his lawyer and joined a lawsuit with 800 other Louisiana fishermen. He realizes the trial is a gamble but says he has little choice: "It's a high-stakes, hard game, and my life's on the line." [38] Following pressure from the White House, BP created a $20 billion fund in 2010 to compensate victims of the spill that froze out trial lawyers. [50]

The settlement will come out of a $20 billion fund set aside in June 2010 by BP at the behest of President Obama to cover claims from disaster victims. [29] The settlement, to be paid from a $20 billion trust for spill victims set up in 2010, doesn't resolve federal and state government environmental damage claims. [19] The company has paid out $28.1 billion in expenses, claims and contributions to the victims' trust fund. That leaves the company with $9.1 billion to pay fines and other penalties from states, the federal government and others. That would not be enough to cover federal environmental fines if BP is faced to pay the maximum fine of $4,300 per barrel, or $21.1 billion. [49]

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, who will hear the case without a jury, is to rule whether London-based BP should get help from the other firms involved in paying the $26 billion in costs associated with the disaster and its resulting offshore spill, the largest in U.S. history. BP has been in talks with the other parties, including its most formidable opponent -- the federal government, two people familiar with the negotiations said. [26] On Feb. 26, the day before trial in the case was to begin, Barbier delayed the case by a week so settlement talks could continue. BP has also been in settlement talks with the federal government and the partner companies that also face liability for the spill, people familiar with those discussions have said. [11] No new date was immediately set. There also was mention in his order of anything about the status of BP's talks and the federal government, involved states or individual plaintiffs not represented by the committee. The judge said the settlement will require substantial changes to the current trial plan but he didn't elaborate. [43]

"The settlement is to be fully funded by BP, with no cap on the amount BP will pay," the Plaintiffs Steering Committee said in a statement. The deal is subject to approval by New Orleans District Court Judge Carl Barbier, who issued a statement Friday night that the trial will be postponed again as other parties reassess their strategies in the case. [16] In a court order Friday night Judge Carl Barbier said Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan, who was meeting with the parties, "has now advised the Court that Plaintiffs' counsel and counsel for BP have reached an agreement on the terms of a proposed class settlement which will be submitted to the Court for approval," The Wall Street Journal reported. Because the settlement "would likely result in a realignment of the parties in this litigation and require substantial changes to the current Phase I trial plan, and in order to allow the parties to reassess their respective positions," Barbier adjourned the start of a civil trial that was set to start Monday. [25]

The settlement, which delayed a giant trial that had been set to get under way in a New Orleans federal court on Monday is a step by BP toward resolving its liability in the case, which could stretch into the tens of billions of dollars. [50]

BP says the $7.8 billion deal represents a partial settlement in the case and expects the money to come from the $20 billion compensation fund that it previously set up. [53] BP said the $7.2 settlement - which must still be approved by Justice Barbier - will be paid from a $20 billion trust fund it set up in response to the spill. [23] BP said yesterday in a statement that the settlement will be paid out of a $20 billion trust set up to compensate spill victims. [11]

BP has spent approximately $14 billion on operational response. This proposed settlement is not expected to result in any increase in the $37.2 billion charge (which included the $20 billion charge taken in respect of the Trust) previously recorded in BP's financial statements. BP's current expectation is that the provision for litigation and claims, which includes the claims covered by this proposed settlement, will increase by approximately $2.1 billion with no net impact to either the income or cash flow statements, because this is a settlement that is expected to be payable from the Trust. [35] BP estimates that the cost of the proposed settlement, unveiled early on Saturday morning, is expected to be paid from the $20bn trust put aside as a compensation fund. BP also said that the proposed settlement was not an admission of liability and some of its claims against Transocean and Halliburton would be assigned to the plaintiffs. [31] During the transition, which could take several months, claimants could be offered an unspecified percentage from the GCCF, with the rest paid by the new fund, the PSC said in a statement. Those claiming medical benefits, including workers who helped clean up the spill, would be eligible for care for 21 years, the PSC said. BP said the proposed settlement was not an admission of liability and that BP would assign to the plaintiffs some of its claims against Transocean and Halliburton. [50]

Lawyers for the committee, Stephen Herman and James Roy, said the settlement would compensate hundreds of thousands of victims. "It does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people," they said. It said the proposed settlement was not an admission of liability and that BP would assign to the plaintiffs some of its claims against Transocean and Halliburton. [9] Before the settlement announcement, BP had been in talks with lawyers for spill victims over a deal to be funded by liquidating the remainder of the claims facility, three people familiar with the matter had said. [17] While lawyers for plaintiffs whose cases have been consolidated before Barbier proposed the settlement, attorneys for other spill victims may oppose it. Plaintiffs' lawyers and the companies still haven't been able to pin down the total number of claims tied to the spill because filing deadlines don't expire for a year, he said. "The total claims could double from where they are now," Coon said. Another problem with the settlement proposal is lawyers for the steering committee don't represent the majority of victims in the case, Coon said, which he said raises questions about their ability to act in the best interests of all claimants. "A very small minority of lawyers are negotiating a deal that leaves them in control of the purse strings and let's them dole it out," he said. [11]

Although the oil company still has a few major legal and financial hurdles to overcome nearly two years after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the tentative settlement with plaintiff's lawyers sends important signals to investors, Gulf Coast states and federal regulators. [49] NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- BP PLC reached a settlement late Friday night with a committee representing the largest group of plaintiffs suing over the 2010 Gulf oil spill, a federal judge said. [24] The settlement, which must be approved by a judge before it goes into effect, will create two classes of claims: economic-loss claims and medical claims. Those under the economic-loss category will include businesses, property owners and individuals along the Gulf of Mexico who sustained economic damage from the 87-day oil spill, the biggest offshore spill in U.S. history. [12] BP's settlement of lawsuits filed by more than 100,000 victims of the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history goes a long way toward resolving pending claims. [10] BP settlement of worst U.S. offshore oil spill involves 100,000 claims by fishermen, cleanup workers, and others. [10]

Any settlement talks between BP and the government may be complicated by a desire to resolve all potential civil and criminal claims in connection with the oil spill, Tulane's Sherman said. [19] Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., said that by agreeing to a substantial settlement with individuals and businesses, BP is proving it is willing to pay whatever it needs to try to put the oil spill behind it. "They have been telling the government: 'We'll do whatever it takes. [8]

BP has agreed to pay $7.8bn (£4.9bn) to American businesses hit by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in an eleventh-hour deal. [35] The class action suit was always the most important, said David Uhlmann, professor at University of Michigan Law School and a former official at the U.S. Justice Department. The remaining cases might cost BP another $20bn to $25bn, but would "begin the process of (BP) moving beyond the Gulf oil spill," he said. [52]

Mr Dudley told The Sunday Telegraph last week that a trial could last into 2014. "It also paves the way for BP to negotiate agreements with the federal and state governments and begin the process of moving beyond the Gulf oil spill," he added. [31] If the class-action lawsuit by victims had gone to trial, BP could have faced much higher costs along with the embarrassment of having to publicly rehash the mistakes that led to the spill. That may improve its standing with the federal government, which controls access to oil reserves that are critically important to BP's future. [49] London-based BP still faces as much as $17.6 billion in fines for pollution law violations in a suit by the federal government, which will now take the lead in any trial over the spill. [17]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, whose lawyers will now be leading the way in any trial, said Feb. 28 the U.S. has a "strong" case over liability for the explosion. BP set aside $3.5 billion to pay Clean Water Act fines based on its own lower estimate of barrels spilled and no finding of gross negligence, or a conscious act or omission, which would raise the level of penalty per barrel spilled to as much as $4,300 from the $1,100 maximum as a result of simple negligence. [17] BP's trust was set up to make emergency and other types of payments to spill victims under the U.S. Oil Pollution Act to speed up assistance and cut down on the number of claims filed in court. Attorneys for some victims argued in court filings that officials of the fund, run by Washington-based lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, used "coercive tactics" to force business and property owners to accept inadequate payments for their claims and give up their rights to sue. [11] Though the framework of the deal between BP and what's known as the Plaintiffs Steering Committee was announced, the terms have yet to be finalized. That lack of detail is troubling for Daniel Becnel Jr., a lawyer in Reserve, La., who represents oil spill victims. [6] BP and plaintiffs' lawyers have reached a settlement in the lawsuit over the oil spill. [42]

A judgment on the evidence would also be more likely to make the oil firms "stop cutting corners," Revette added. David Fouche, a chef at Deanie's Seafood Restaurant in New Orleans, said he still is forced to import jumbo crabs from Venezuela after the spill devastated the local crab and oyster industries. "Prices are just now getting to a level where they're affordable, where we can get into a profit range," he told AFP. His restaurant was paid a settlement from BP but Fouche said it did not cover all its additional expenses. "BP's not going to pony up," he said. Other victims said the settlement might help them move on from the disaster. "It's good they settled," said fisherman and plaintiff Acy Cooper of Venice, Louisiana. [4]

The settlement with private plaintiffs, which BP estimates will cost $7.8 billion, will resolve more than 100,000 individual and business claims -- from shrimpers to vacation condo owners -- through a court-supervised process that will last at least until April 22, 2014. [34] The momentous settlement will have no cap to compensate the plaintiffs, though BP PLC estimated it would have to pay out about $7.8 billion, making it one of the largest class-action settlements ever. [10] There are thousands and thousands of plaintiffs involved. At this point I think a lot of them just want to put this incident behind them. BRADY: It certainly is. That figure is actually $7.8 billion. That's an estimate from BP how much it will have to pay for this particular settlement. [47]

The question remains, will Americans who live along the Gulf of Mexico go for it? BP expects to pay out $7.8 billion and anticipates that a separate claims fund run by Ken Feinberg will cease at some point. [39] BP said March 2 it would pay an estimated $7.8 billion to resolve private plaintiffs' claims for economic loss, property damage and injuries. [19]

BP, in a statement, estimated that the deal would cost it $7.8 billion, including $2.3 billion to help the beleaguered seafood industry. The company says it has already spent $22 billion on "meeting its commitments in the gulf." [5] The final number could be a little higher or a little lower than that $7.8 billion. One big plus for BP here, though, is this agreement falls within what the company was predicting the spill would cost. That means no big surprises for BP's investors. [47]

The company has received four payments from partners in the project, including $4 billion from minority owner Anadarko Petroleum and $250 million from Cameron International Corp, which made the blowout preventer that failed to prevent the spill. These settlements and other adjustments brought BP's total write-off to $37.2 billion. [8] If the settlement is ratified over the coming month and a half, it will bring to just under $14bn the sum BP has agreed to pay out to people and firms whose livelihoods and health was damaged by the spill. A similar sum has been spent on capping the well and the clean up. [13] BP and other companies involved in the spill owe a debt "well in excess" of $30 billion in clean-up, restoration and financial penalties, said John Kostyack, a vice president of the National Wildlife Federation in Reston, Virginia, said on the group's website. "The environmental legacy of the Obama administration is going to rest in large part on how well the people in the Gulf and the ecosystem are compensated for this disaster," Kostyack said in an interview. [19] BP, of course, still faces claims from Gulf states as well as its drilling partners. "Delays or deals made by other players do not change the facts and we are fully prepared to argue the merits of our case based on those facts," said a spokesman for Transocean. "The United States will continue to work closely with all five Gulf states to ensure that any resolution of the federal law enforcement and damage claims, including natural resources damages, arising out of this unprecedented environmental disaster is just, fair and restores the Gulf for the benefit of the people of the Gulf states," Wyn Hornbuckle, a department spokesman, said. [31] Transocean officials said March 2 that the BP settlement wouldn't influence the company's approach to claims over the handling of the Macondo well. "Delays or deals made by other players do not change the facts of this case and we are fully prepared to argue the merits of our case based on those facts," Lou Colasuonno, a Transocean spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. [19] No new date was immediately set. Transocean and Halliburton have rejected recent overtures to settle their claims with BP and pay billions of dollars, according to two people close to the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential. "Delays or deals made by other players do not change the facts of this case and we are fully prepared to argue the merits of our case based on those facts," Transocean said in a statement. [42]

Kenneth Feinberg, who has administered BP's compensation fund, praised the deal, calling it ''good news'', and saying ''it avoids a lengthy, complex trial and uncertain appeals''. Mr Feinberg, whose fund has evaluated more than a million claims, has paid out $US6.1 billion to more 225,000 of them. He urged ''an orderly transition to the new proposed claims program''. [7] The late-night announcement on Friday of a proposed $US7.8 billion ($A7.26 billion) deal in the BP civil trial is not the end of the case, but the beginning of a new phase with many unanswered questions. [7]

The deal was announced late Friday and prompted a federal judge in New Orleans to postpone a Monday trial, but the proposed settlement solves only one piece of BP's legal exposure from the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. [6] In addition to the Justice Department, BP still faces lawsuits from five U.S. states whose coastlines were oiled, as well as its partners in the ill-fated Macondo well. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in an order late on Friday delayed the trial, saying the settlement "would likely result in a realignment of the parties in this litigation and require substantial changes" to the trial plan. [50] The settlement does not affect what is anticipated to be tens of billions of dollars in fines and claims from the U.S. government, coastal states and local governments impacted by the spill. Judge Carl Barbier issued an order late Friday adjourning the case indefinitely "because such a settlement would likely result in a realignment of the parties in this litigation. and in order to allow the parties to reassess their respective positions." [4]

The proposed settlement will benefit fishermen, local residents and clean-up workers whose livelihoods or health suffered in the worst spill in U.S. history following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in 2010 in which 11 workers died. [22] U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Feb. 28 that the U.S. has a "strong" case over liability for the explosion that ripped through the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers and triggering the biggest U.S. offshore oil spill. [19] The three-month-long spill, the largest oil spill in U.S. history, was triggered after an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010. [48]

In this 2010 file photo provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, fire boat response crews spray water on the blazing remnants of BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig. [10] BP was sued along with Vernier, Switzerland-based Transocean Ltd. opnbrktRIGclsbrkt, owner and operator of the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig, and Houston-based Halliburton Co. opnbrktHALclsbrkt, provider of cementing services at the Macondo oil well, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast. [19] The blowout of the Macondo well in April 2010 destroyed a drilling rig called the Deepwater Horizon. That killed 11 workers, spilled an estimated 200 million gallons of oil and disrupted thousands of Gulf Coast lives and businesses. [8] BP's Macondo well, located in mile-deep water off the Louisiana coast, blew out on April 20, 2010, destroying the Deep­water Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers and unleashing a three-month underwater gusher that poured million of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico. [20]

Attorneys general for Gulf Coast states, in coordination with Justice, are pursuing economic and environmental claims against BP and the service companies that were involved in drilling the Macondo well. [34]

The judge extended the same coverage to Halliburton for the same reason. BP isn't required to cover any punitive-damage awards against either contractor if they are found to have been grossly negligent in their handling of the well, Barbier said. The prospect remains that thousands of Gulf Coast residents will opt out of the BP accord to pursue their suits separately, Tulane's Sherman said. "It's way too early to tell how many people will decide not to join the settlement, but BP will certainly face opt-out claims," he said. "There may be a large number of victims who opt out because it likely won't be very clear how much they'll receive it they opt in," Stag said in a March 3 phone interview. [19] What BP and the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee agreed to -- subject to approval by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans -- is a process with formulas for payouts. BP, based in part on its own experience paying claims through the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, has estimated the total cost but there is no financial cap on its obligations. [34]

U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier issued an order announcing the agreement between BP, which was in charge of the doomed oil well, and the attorneys for the plaintiffs a diverse group of fishermen, beachside property owners and restaurateurs, among others, who claimed to be victims of the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history. [5]

BP PLC has agreed to settle lawsuits from thousands of fishermen who lost work and others who claimed they were harmed by the oil giant's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, in the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. [43] BP agreed late Friday March 2, 2012 to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history. [8]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The public image of oil giant BP Plc has taken some huge hits since the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill but a new book purporting to look inside BP may open up a whole new set of thorny questions about the company. [21] The city has been crawling with armies of lawyers who have descended on the City to clash over BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill. [31] Activists covered in food coloring made to look like oil protest BP's Gulf oil spill in Mexico City on July 22. [46] BP is beginning to settle the financial bill it faces from a 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. [47] BP may have paid a modest premium to settle, but it puts the company another step closer to moving beyond the Gulf oil spill." [20]

BP has five rigs drilling in the gulf, making it one of the most active drillers there. That is the same number BP operated before the accident, and it plans to have three more rigs drilling in the gulf by the end of the year. The Energy Department recently projected that gulf oil production would expand from its 2011 level of 1.3 million barrels a day, still nearly a quarter of total domestic production, to two million barrels a day by 2020. Last December, the Obama administration held its first offshore auction since the BP spill, granting leases for more than 20 million acres of federal waters -- bigger than West Virginia. [46] The announcement of an agreement late Friday by BP and lawyers representing individuals and businesses hurt by the disaster represented something of a turning of the page, though BP and its drilling partners continue to face legal challenges. After a yearlong drilling moratorium, BP and other oil companies are intensifying their exploration and production in the gulf, which will soon surpass the levels attained before the accident. [46] NEW ORLEANS -- BP PLC has settled out of court with lawyers acting on behalf of thousands of individuals and businesses affected by the disaster. [25]

The settlement "removes uncertainty facing Cameron in the litigation associated with the Deepwater Horizon event," Cameron Chief Executive Officer Jack Moore said in a Dec. 16 statement. Barbier previously ruled that BP must honor certain liability agreements in its drilling contracts with Transocean, the rig owner, and Halliburton, the cement contractor. [19] BP is suing Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig and Halliburton, the contractor hired by BP to cement the Macondo well to help pay for the cost of the cleanup. [8] Apart from BP, which owned 65 percent of the Macondo well, the main corporate defendants are Switzerland-based Transocean Ltd, which owned the Deepwater Horizon, and Houston-based Halliburton Co, which provided cementing services for the well. They are also suing each other. [9]

Donald Vidrine, the senior BP manager on the Deepwater Horizon on April 20, 2010, talked with an engineer about unsatisfactory well tests less than an hour before an explosion killed 11 workers and sent oil pouring into the waters off Louisiana, Transocean’s attorneys said. [26] The committee represents fisherman and businesses who say their livelihoods were damaged by the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent spill from the Macondo well. [22] The older fund did cover injured rig workers on the Deepwater Horizon, the drilling rig that exploded on April 20, 2010. Some caution that their work has only begun. "Two of the most persistent concerns are those about seafood safety and if the air is safe to breathe." Some doctors along the coast say they routinely treat cleanup workers and residents for chemical exposure and other problems that they blame on the spill. Dr. Mike Robichaux, a nose and throat specialist in Raceland, La., said he has treated 50 people for a range of health problems that he believes were caused by exposure to chemicals released during the disaster. "The illnesses are very real, and the people who are ill are apparently people who have sensitivities to these substances that not all of us are sensitive to," he said. [36]

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans yesterday ordered the adjournment of a trial scheduled to start March 5 to determine which companies were liable for the explosion aboard Transocean Ltd. opnbrktRIGclsbrkt's Deepwater Horizon rig off the coast of Louisiana and the resulting spill. [11] The case was triggered by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of the southern state of Louisiana in April of 2010. [53] U.S. Coast Guard / Getty Images Fire boats battle a fire at the off shore oil rig Deepwater Horizon April 21, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. [42]

As sound-bites go, it wasnt particularly inspired. Except that for two years BP has been anything but strong, blown off course by the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion and strategic failures such as the collapse of its Rosneft deal in Russia. [52]

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"Should it not be sufficient, payments under the proposed settlement would be made by BP directly." Kim Fustier, an oil analyst at Credit Suisse, has included a $53.2bn total pre-tax liability in her BP estimates, including $21.5bn for Clean Water Act fines and penalties, $18.5bn gross for the Trust Fund and $18.3bn for other costs. [31] BP, which is based in London, says it will not have to increase the total of $37.2 billion it has set aside to fund the trust and pay for other spill costs. [8] The government could weigh in. That's because the $20 billion fund run by Feinberg was set up not only to pay claims by individuals and businesses, but also environmental damages and state and local response costs. It is not clear if such damages have already been covered. [10] The oil giant said Friday it expects to pay out at least $7.8 billion as part of the settlement. It says it expects the money to come from the $20 billion compensation fund that it previously set out. [43] The $7.8 billion settlement is in addition to a $20 billion BP compensation fund. [10]

BP said it expects the money for Friday's settlement to come from the $20 billion compensation fund that it previously set up and that Feinberg has been administering. [42]

BP agreed in October to a $4 billion settlement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. opnbrktAPCclsbrkt, which owned a 25 percent stake in the Macondo well. [11] The maximum fine would increase to $4,300 a barrel if BP or the other defendants are found to have been grossly negligent, meaning a conscious action or omission caused the spill. Such a finding could leave BP liable for as much as $17.6 billion in fines over its handling of the Macondo well, based on the government estimate of barrels spilled. [19] BP says it has spent more than $22 billion on the spill, which breaks down to $8.1 billion to individuals, businesses and government entities and $14 billion on operational response. [11] Civil fines under the Clean Water Act could total $21.5 billion if the spill were found to have resulted from gross negligence and BP were assessed the maximum fine of $4,300 for each of the 5 million barrels the government estimates spilled. [20]

Still looming, however, are civil and possibly criminal claims under federal and state laws, notably the federal Clean Water Act - which alone could bring fines of more than $20 billion if calculated on terms least favorable to BP. [20] BP established a $20 billion claims fund to resolve many claims out of court. [24]

BP, which denies gross negligence and also disputes the amount of oil that poured into the gulf, has set aside $US3.5 billion to pay fines. [3] BP earned $27.5 billion in 2011 on revenue of $376 billion, helped by historically high oil prices that have padded the profits of all oil producers. Its shares have almost doubled from their low of $27.05 on June 25, when the well was still spewing oil and a series of efforts to plug the well had failed. [8]

Criticism of management remains, though, and some investors want the restructuring to go further. It has been suggested that BP should split the oil refining and marketing division from the exploration and production operations, adding perhaps $60bn-$80bn to the companys value. One analyst said this weekend that as BP emerges from the shadow of Deepwater Horizon, investors will put pressure on the board to step up the pace of change. "Dont expect investors to pat Dudley on the back when all this is over. Investors have had a rough ride and will want a return," he said. [52] Even before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, there was a deadly explosion at BPs refinery at Texas City, near Houston, and oil spillages in Alaska. [52]

Dudley replaced Tony Hayward as head of BP in the wake of the oil spill. The beneficiaries of the settlement include fishermen who lost their livelihood in the wake of the oil disaster. [30] As it emerges that BP has reached a settlement over its role in the disastrous oil spill of 2010, Louisiana residents are still living with the consequences. [44]

The steering committee settlement doesn't resolve the private plaintiffs' claims against Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron International Corp. opnbrktCAMclsbrkt, the Houston-based maker of blowout prevention equipment that BP officials contend malfunctioned and failed to halt the spill, Sterbcow said. "If those claims aren't settled, we're ready to go forward to trial on them." [19] The plaintiffs claim each of the five companies in the trial -- BP, Transocean, Halliburton, Cameron and Swaco -- share blame for the explosion and spill. [26]

Several government probes have already criticized BP, rig operator Transocean and Halliburton -- which was responsible for the well's faulty cement job -- for cutting corners and missing crucial warning signs. Revette said she wanted the victims' lawsuit to proceed to trial rather than be resolved through settlement. [4] "Trials can be all-or-nothing risks," said Erichson, a law professor who teaches complex litigation. "In general, companies don't like taking those kinds of risks." Most lawsuits over injuries and deaths have been settled by Transocean, as part of its agreement in the drilling contract, according to court filings. One of the injured workers, Buddy Trahan, a Transocean rig supervisor, asked Feb. 20 to have his case against BP sent to a Texas state court for trial. [18] JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: My pleasure. BRADY: Well, you know, there were more than 500 lawsuits filed against BP and the companies that helped it drill the well where this disaster happened. Rather than having separate trials for all of those cases, the court combined them into one complex case. The federal judge in New Orleans, Carl Barbier, he was encouraging the various sides to settle. Much so that when the trial was supposed to start last Monday, he agreed to delay it so they would have some more time to try and settle the case. I think that BP really wanted to avoid another public rehashing of this event. [47] The fact that the parties have an agreement is significant, says Martin Davies, director of the Maritime Law Center at Tulane University in New Orleans. "It's a big step forward to final resolution of the private claims," Davies says. "It doesn't settle everything though; it won't make the trial go away altogether -- or at least not just yet." That's because BP still faces lawsuits from other companies involved in the well, and from the federal and state governments. [6]

The other three pillars in that trial are claims outstanding from the states of Louisana and Alabama, counter-claims between BP and its former Deepwater partners including Transocean, and civil claims under the Clean Water Act from the federal government.In addition, BP is facing shareholder lawsuits in Houston. [14]

In the meantime, BPs lawyers will investigate whether it will be possible to settle the claims for penalties and damages from five Republican coastal states from Texas to Florida and from the U.S. Federal government. [13] One lawyer told the BBC a deal between BP and U.S. federal and state governments was not close, and talks had halted. [51]

Because plaintiffs' lawyers and government officials have worked together to gather evidence about who is at fault for the spill, U.S. Justice Department attorneys are likely to take the lead in the case, said Edward Sherman, a Tulane University Law School professor in New Orleans who teaches classes on complex litigation and mass-tort law. "They have plenty of lawyers capable of effectively presenting the case against BP and the other defendants." [19] Attorneys will gather for a status conference to set a date to "discuss issues raised by the settlement." That would ostensibly give BP more time to arrive at a separate settlement with the federal government, perhaps one that would roll together both civil and criminal penalties, said David Uhlmann, a University of Michigan Law School professor and former chief of the environmental crimes section of the Justice Department, who has been following the case closely. [5] Uhlmann speculated that the federal government may have insisted any settlement with it come after BP settles with most private claimants. "The government cares about making sure that BP is properly punished and that natural resource damages are addressed," he said, "but it also cares that victims are made whole. [20] BP's willingness to agree to a settlement with no cap will help it in future talks with states and the federal government, experts say. [49] There was no mention in the order by Judge Carl Barbier of the status of BP's talks with the federal government, involved states or individual plaintiffs not represented by the committee. [24]

Punitive penalties for the plaintiffs -- shrimpers, hoteliers, restaurateurs and local governments -- could be higher, if Barbier finds the companies acted with gross negligence or willful intent. "This case can very easily spiral beyond $100 billion in total exposure for BP," LeCesne says. [38] Legal experts said the size of the settlement, announced Friday night, suggests that if the government pursues criminal environmental penalties against BP the potential penalties could reach $17 billion to $40 billion, though a settlement likely would reduce any fine to far less. [15] The settlement amounts to less than one-third of BP's 2011 profits, which were nearly $26 billion. [29]

Importantly, BP can perhaps begin thinking about a return to deepwater drilling in the Gulf, a region vital to the companys growth ambitions. Analyst Fadel Gheit, of Oppenheimer & Co, believes the weekend settlement sends a signal that BP is telling U.S. authorities that it is prepared to do whatever its takes - within reason - to put the affair behind it. [52] Scott Dean, a spokesman for BP, declined to comment on the trial or potential outcomes stemming from a settlement. Earlier this month, BP reached an accord with co-defendant M-I Swaco, a unit of Houston-based oil services company Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) that employed two of the 11 workers killed in the rig’s explosion. [26] We really don't know what the full scope of the medical problems are to exposure to the dispersants and the oil itself." How much BP will be forced to pay will depend on how broad the criteria for verifying health problems are, he said. Mitch Crusto, a Loyola business and environmental law professor, said it was a smart move for BP. "It helps give the impression that BP is a responsible company." He added that Barbier will be more likely to approve the settlement offer because of the medical provision. [36]

Although some analysts expect BP to have to pay more eventually, the total would be much less than initially feared. The settlement does not fully resolve the claims by the businesses and people covered by the settlement or put a final cost on them. [8] Plaintiffs lawyers said there wasn't a cap on the total damages BP has to pay. "This settlement will provide a full measure of compensation to hundreds of thousands," Stephen J. Herman and James P. Roy, the plaintiffs' co-liaison counsel, said in their statement. "It does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people." [11] Experts say important lessons and decisions will be made that will put the unprecedented catastrophe into perspective. The trial, which was to begin today, has been rescheduled until next Monday to allow both sides in the case another week to work out a potential settlement, according to a statement released Sunday by plaintiffs' attorneys and BP, one of the main defendants in the case. It was unknown whether a settlement would postpone the trial indefinitely. [38]

Stag said the deadline for spill victims' claims doesn't expire for a year, so the number of claims BP and other defendants may have to confront isn't clear. "I just find it hard to believe that 100 percent of the problem is going to go away with this settlement," he said. [19] Some Gulf Coast residents have not been satisfied with the claims process under the trust fund and are hoping the settlement makes it easier to receive compensation. Clara Gerica, a 59-year-old shrimp vendor at a downtown farmers' market in New Orleans, said she and her husband, a commercial fisherman, had not been compensated even though they filed claims with the fund. If the new process isn't any better, she said: "I'm going to put up a fight." Tony Buzbee, a Houston-based attorney who represents people and businesses with roughly 12,000 spill claims, questioned whether the settlement will be more beneficial to his clients than the existing fund. [8] New vehicles will be set up and supervised by the court to pay claims as part of Friday's settlement. People waiting for money from Feinberg's Gulf Coast Claims Facility can take what the settlement vehicles offer them or opt out and make a claim directly to a BP-run entity. If they don't like what they get from that entity, they can sue. [42]

Whether that transition will be orderly is another of the open questions. In some ways, delays that often occur in such settlements will be minimised: While defendants in class actions usually do not pay out settlements until final approval by the court, BP has agreed to continue paying claims throughout the process. [7]

The settlement creates a new fund that will pay all claims, but the total amount is not capped. It could ultimately add up to more or less than what BP estimates. [8]

The settlement would cover only private plaintiffs -- individuals and businesses with either economic losses or medical claims resulting from the oil spill. [6] Several other companies are also involved in the trial. Other claims pending Eleven people were killed and 4.9 million barrels of oil spewed from the mile-deep well in by far the worst offshore U.S. oil spill. [1] BP employed thousands of fishermen and other locals to respond to the oil spill, and scores have expressed health concerns. Many of those people can be found along the sliver of land south of New Orleans in the fishing and oilfield communities of Plaquemines Parish. Glen Swift, a fisherman in Buras, said he worked cleanup boats and got sick one day cleaning up a big patch of oil. "I got nauseated, just real weak and sick with diarrhea for a few days," he said. Swift said he wasn't sure if he would file a medical claim. [36] Native people of the Gwich'in Nation form a human banner on the banks of the Porcupine River near Ft. Yukon, Alaska July 21, in regard to the BP oil spill with a message to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil development. [46]

BP's oil spill deal leaves questions unanswered Skip to navigation Skip to content JavaScript disabled. [7]

If there has been any disagreement, it has been over how fast to expand the drilling. Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the Obama administration had put in place significantly tougher offshore drilling requirements, but they have been resisted by Republicans in the House, who have passed legislation to hasten review of drilling plans and open new areas to development. "The Republicans and the oil industry are maintaining the speed-over-safety mentality that led to the BP disaster in the first place," said Mr. Markey, who has been critical of the Obama administration's response to the spill and to what he called a dangerous overuse of chemical dispersants in the gulf. "We now understand the lessons, but Republicans have blocked all new safety laws," he said. [46] BP's environmentally-friendly image was tarnished, and independent gas station owners who fly the BP flag lost business from customers who were upset over the spill. The disaster also created a new lexicon in American vocabulary as crews used innovative attempts to plug the spewing well, such as the top kill and the junk shot in which they tried to plug the well with pieces of rubber. As people all over the world watched a live spill camera on the Internet and television, the Obama administration dealt with a political headache, in part because the government grossly underestimated how much crude was spilling into the Gulf. [42] The report found BP violated federal regulations, ignored crucial warnings and made bad decisions during the cementing of the well a mile beneath the Gulf of Mexico. BP has repeatedly said it accepts some responsibility for the spill and will pay what it owes, while urging other companies to pay their share. [42] The report said BP violated federal regulations, ignored crucial warnings and made bad decisions when trying to cement the leaking well about 1.5 kilometers beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters. [53]

Oil giant BP has agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits stemming from its well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. [6] BP agreed late Friday to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. [34]

NEW ORLEANS - The stories soon to unfold in a federal courtroom here are just the beginning of one of the biggest environmental cases in U.S. history: the deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster and its multibillion-dollar impact on the Gulf Coast and its people. [38] British Petroleum has announced it has reached a multi-billion-dollar agreement with fishermen and other plaintiffs who sued over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill off the U.S. coast. [53] The oil spill closed some areas to fishing and wreaked havoc on coastal tourism when it reached the beaches of Gulf Coast states. [20]

The accord provides for a transition from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility trust, through which BP said it has paid more than 220,000 claims from individuals and businesses. [17] The process will resemble and replace the one run by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which was established by BP and led by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who was chosen and paid by BP. During a 30- to 45-day transition period, claims pending at the GCCF will be moved to the new court-supervised mechanism. [34]

The proposed economic loss settlement provides for a transition from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) administered by Kenneth Feinberg. [35] "The proposed settlement represents significant progress toward resolving issues from the Deepwater Horizon accident and contributing further to economic and environmental restoration efforts along the Gulf Coast." [25]

The need to plan a detailed response for a possible spill in Cuban waters -- including who pays for what -- is driven by memories of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, where close to 5 million barrels of crude flowed unabated for three months off the Louisiana coast. [45] Unlike the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, where the disaster was blamed on a drunken captain, the Deepwater Horizon incident focuses on decisions from high-level BP engineers, LeCesne says. [38]

"We are hopeful that the resolution of the private plaintiffs' lawsuit will provide swift and sure compensation to those harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill," Wyn Hornbuckle, a Justice Department spokesman, said yesterday in an e-mail. [11] The oil giant reached a deal with plaintiffs Friday in a lawsuit over the 2010 Gulf oil spill. [47]

BP agreed late Friday to settle lawsuits brought by more than 100,000 fishermen, cleanup workers, and others hit by the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history. [10] "Tasks that a pipeline inspector used to complete every three months now happened maybe once a year." Unlike Exxon, which Lustgarten says changed its ways after the Valdez debacle, BP failed to right itself even after major accidents, including a 2006 oil spill in Alaska and the explosion of a Texas City, Texas, refinery in 2005 that killed 15. [21]

BP shares will probably rise to a minimum of 520 pence from the close of 496.5 pence on March 2, according to the forecasts of five oil industry analysts. Jason Kenney, an analyst for Banco Santander SA opnbrktSANclsbrkt in Edinburgh, said the stock may climb as high as 580 pence over time if additional spill costs stay within the company's estimates. [17] BP took a charge of $40.9 billion to cover the costs of the spill in 2010. [8] The city has received about $30 million from BP for marketing and cleanup costs. That's a fraction of what it lost in tourism revenue, usually $2.3 billion a year in Orange Beach and nearby Gulf Shores, he says. [38] BP has paid some $7.5 billion to date to cover clean-up costs in the Gulf region. [30]

If it were to be found grossly or criminally liable, the $37.2bn charge it has made for total costs would turn out to be too little. BPs lawyers still expect one of the biggest and most complex cases of its sort will come to court, though there is a chance - I am told - that the states will settle. [13] "With the worst case scenario analysis looking increasingly unlikely, the discount in BPs share price can also begin to unwind," said Jason Kenney, analyst at Banco Santander. In the wake of the disaster BP cut its dividend, tapped the markets for more money, and launched a $30bn-plus asset disposal programme to cover costs. [52] BP is paying an estimated $7.8bn (£5bn) to individuals and businesses affected by a disaster that cost lives and livelihoods. [52]

"During Mr. Feinberg's tenure, BP has paid approximately $6.1 billion to resolve more than 220,000 claims from individuals and businesses through the GCCF." [35] BP has paid out more than $8.1 billion to individuals, businesses and government entities. [35]

The deal with businesses and individuals, reached after markets closed last week, was lower than the $14 billion that had been discussed, according to people familiar with the talks, and the money for the settlement will come from a $20 billion compensation fund that's already provisioned for. [17] A $14 billion deal with Gulf businesses and property owners has been proposed, three people familiar with the accord said, and the trial was put off a week so talks could continue uninterrupted. [26]

Friday's deal does not resolve lawsuits with federal, state and local governments or address environmental damage. Those other claims could total up to $25 billion. [49]

BP still has to resolve claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states and its partners. [43] The company still faces claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states and its drilling partners. [31] The company has not admitted liability and still faces claims from the U.S. and state governments, and drilling firms. [41]

The states still have claims against the company. There are still a few individuals who are not part of this big settlement. Judge Barbier says he'll give time for the parties to figure out how this settlement affects them, and then he'll set a new trial date down the road. [47] The proposed settlement terms will be submitted to the court for approval, the judge said. Barbier said in his order that he will schedule a status conference with lawyers to discuss issues raised by the settlement and set a new trial date. "Such a settlement would likely result in a realignment of the parties in this litigation and require substantial changes to the current Phase 1 trial plan," Barbier said in the one- page order, which didn't disclose terms of the agreement. [11] The last-minute deal means the highly anticipated trial will be delayed once again after a week-long postponement was ordered on Sunday in order to allow the talks to continue. Judge Carl Barbier issued an order late on Friday adjourning the case indefinitely "because such a settlement would likely result in a realignment of the parties in this litigation and require substantial changes to the current Phase I trial plan, and in order to allow the parties to reassess their respective positions." That is because the British energy giant is hoping to shift some of the cost to its subcontractors, a complex legal question which will likely end up taking years and multiple appeals to resolve. [23] A trial in the case, due to begin on Monday, will now be delayed - for a second time - as a result of the deal, Judge Carl Barbier said on Friday. The settlement will "likely result in a realignment of the parties," he said. The trial is now being adjourned "in order to allow the parties to reassess their respective positions," Judge Barbier said. [40]

The last-minute deal Friday means a highly anticipated trial will be delayed once again after a postponement was ordered last week to allow settlement talks on what became the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history to continue. [4]

Experts and legal academics, along with national and international media in town to cover the trial, still anticipate one of the biggest, most important trials in U.S. history. "This will be the largest environmental tort case in history." Just as the Exxon Valdez disaster became a cornerstone of U.S. environmental history over 20 years ago, the BP oil trial will put a magnifying glass on the powerful companies behind the nation's oil business -- and how bad things can get when they make mistakes. [38] The deal does nothing to settle charges brought by BP's biggest opponent in the trial: the U.S. government. [50] The U.S. government also sued BP, Transocean opnbrktRIGclsbrkt, MOEX and The Woodlands, Texas-based Anadarko for violations of federal pollution laws. Louisiana and Alabama sued as well. [18] Several government probes have also already castigated BP, rig operator Transocean and Halliburton - which was responsible for the runaway well's faulty cement job - for cutting corners and missing warning signs that could have prevented the disaster. [23]

BP PLC's CEO Bob Dudley during a results media conference at their headquarters in London, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011. BP announced Tuesday it is resuming dividend payouts for the first time since the Gulf of Mexico well disaster, despite suffering its first full-year loss since 1992, and plans to sell off almost half of its U.S. refinery business. [25] The Transocean Development Driller III, left, works to drill the primary relief well during sunrise at the BP Plc Macondo well site in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana in July 2010. [26]

U.S. regulators in October approved BP's first new drilling plan for the Gulf of Mexico, Lustgarten writes. President Obama in May also proposed opening Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve, "where BP would again be expected to play a significant role," he says. [21]

In January, the judge said indemnity provisions in the drilling contract with Transocean required BP to pay most damages for the spill. This left Transocean liable only for federal pollution fines or penalties, punitive damages and payments to workers injured or killed. [26] BP still faces billions of dollars in federal fines under the Clean Water Act and for natural resource damages included under the Oil Pollution Act. [47] The maximum increases to $4,300 a barrel for gross negligence, or a conscious act or omission, leaving BP liable for as much as $17.6 billion in fines. BP set aside $3.5 billion to pay Clean Water Act fines based on its own lower estimate of barrels spilled and no finding of gross negligence. [11] BP said it expects the money to come from the $20 billion compensation fund that it previously set out. [27] BP has paid more than $5.6 billion to over 220,000 claimants who chose to settle with a special fund set up to provide emergency payments and a faster route to reimbursement. [23]

The company said in a statement to NewsCore that the settlement was worth about $7.8 billion, which would be paid from a $20 billion trust set up in the wake of the disaster. [25] The company says it'll pay that from a $20 billion trust that it set up at the request of the federal government. [47]

BP has said it expects government fines to total $3.5 billion, but the maximum under law is in excess of $20 billion if gross negligence can be proven. [50]

The remaining claims from the government could add billions more to BP's tab, and BP has already paid out billions in cleanup costs and to compensate victims. [42] The massive cleanup and containment effort cost BP $12.6 billion and it has pledged $1 billion towards economic rehabilitation. [23]

BP to be pressed on $18 billion spill bill Skip to navigation Skip to content JavaScript disabled. [3] BP's attempts to create an environmentally friendly image were crushed, and independent gas station owners with BP-branded stations lost business from customers who were upset over the spill. The company's share price of $47.50 is still 21 percent below its $60.48 close before the spill on April 20, 2010. [8] For investors, who have recently driven up BPs share price on hopes of a Deepwater settlement, it was a welcome re-focusing on strategy and the future. The companys share price, now nudging 500p, is about 200p above the immediate post-crisis level and is expected to recover further on Monday as investors get their first chance to respond to Saturdays news. [52] Barbier could grant a longer delay if settlement negotiations between the government and BP heat up, Tobias added. The company has been in talks with the Justice Department for months, two people familiar with negotiations said earlier this year. [19] The financial risk to some of the companies has fallen with pretrial settlements and rulings. In July, Barbier dismissed racketeering allegations against BP. In November, he threw out the Alabama and Louisiana environmental claims brought under state laws. [26] My very strong sense is that relations between BP and the DoJ are not good. Todays settlement with businesses and individuals contains two agreements - one to resolve claims for economic loss and one for medical claims, such as stress, the impact of breathing in fumes, and accidents that took place in the clean-up. [13] The settlement does not fully resolve all claims by victims, as individuals and businesses could reject it and choose to bring separate cases. It also doesn't put a final cost on them. [49]

The settlement money will come from the $20-billion trust BP established in June 2010 to compensate victims. [5] Mr Graham-Wood also noted that it was important the settlement had been made without accepting liability. He also plans to increase his estimate of the total liabilities for the oil spill to around $45bn. [31] Tony Hayward, BP's CEO at the time of the oil spill, came to personify a cold corporate stance on the tragedy. "I'd like my life back," he said at one point in the exhausting aftermath -- five words that sped his ouster soon after. [21] Despite the spill and the legal and financial setbacks that followed, BP remains one of the world's biggest and most profitable companies. It is the fourth largest investor-owned oil company. [8] "BP has been very responsive," says Jay Dardene, Louisianas lieutenant governor. Tourism is his responsibility. Time is a great healer, he says, when it comes to the raw anger many people felt toward the company in the weeks and months after the spill. "BP has provided a significant amount of funding," he says, "to all the parishes in the state of Louisiana, and to the state of Louisiana, to help accelerate the tourism recovery from the spill." The threat of lawsuits, he adds, certainly helped with that funding. [44] BP Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said the company is prepared to settle with the U.S. and state governments on "fair and reasonable" terms. [19] BP Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said yesterday the company is prepared to settle with the U.S. government for penalties under the Clean Water Act if the terms are fair. [17] BP still faces claims by the U.S. government, which is pursuing violations of the Clean Water Act and other laws. [50] The oil giant still faces claims by the U.S. government, which is pursuing violations of the Clean Water Act and other laws, which could result in fines totaling billions of dollars. [1]

After the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989, the company ultimately settled with the U.S. government for $1 billion, which would be about $1.8 billion today. [10] The company says it has already paid more than $8.1 billion to individuals, businesses and government entities. It has spent about $14 billion cleaning up the spill. [16]

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility, under Mr Feinberg, has to date paid $6.1bn to resolve more than 220,000 claims from individuals and businesses. [13] The proposed agreement to resolve economic loss claims includes the financial commitment for the Gulf seafood industry and a fund to support continued advertising that promotes Gulf Coast tourism. [35] The economic loss claims process will continue under court supervision before final approval of the settlement, first under the transitional claims process, and then through the settlement claims process established by the proposed economic loss agreement. "This settlement reflects our commitment not only to the Gulf region, but also to the United States as a whole," said Mr. Dudley. [35] Not covered by the settlement are claims by federal, state and local government agencies, including the . "This settlement reflects our commitment not only to the Gulf region, but also to the United States as a whole," Dudley said. [25]

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Blaine LeCesne, a tort law professor at Loyola University New Orleans, said getting medical claims covered under the proposed settlement was a victory for the plaintiffs. At a trial, he said it would have been difficult to prove medical damage. [36] Lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a separate statement that settlement will resolve most private claims for economic loss, property damage and medical injuries. [11] Lawyers for the PSC, Stephen Herman and James Roy, said the settlement would speed up compensation for thousands of victims, who would be divided into two categories: economic loss claims and medical claims. "This settlement will provide a full measure of compensation to hundreds of thousands - in a transparent and expeditious manner under rigorous judicial oversight," they said in a statement. "It does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people." [50]

The settlement follows a week of intense talks in New Orleans between lawyers for the local businesses and BP's legal team. [31] BP and other companies connected to the well “ignored crucial safety issues, cut corners and violated federal and state law to save time and money in favor of production and profit,” lawyers for businesses and individuals said in a master complaint in December 2010. [26]

Federal maritime law says punitive damages shouldn't exceed compensatory payouts to residents and businesses -- except when bad decisions were motivated by profit, LeCesne says. The case could reach the Supreme Court to clarify the amount of punitive damages companies can be liable for, he says. Barbier has said he will entertain arguments for punitive damages. "The big wild card in this litigation will be assessing gross negligence or not," LeCesne says. "That's really the central issue in the case." How much can BP be liable for? That's unclear. [38] CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) -- West Virginia legislators didn't violate the state constitution when they reduced a cap on damages for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases from $1 million to $500,000, the Supreme Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday. [54]

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In one of the pending lawsuits, BP has sued Transocean for at least $40 billion in damages. [42] "The whisper was that the deal would be closer to $14 billion, so if it turns out to be around $8 billion, that's clearly positive for BP," said Jason Gammel, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Ltd. in London. [17] Wyn Hornbuckle, a Justice Department spokesman, said that the deal with private plaintiffs leaves much to be done. ''We are pleased that BP may be stepping up to address harms to individual plaintiffs, but this by no means fully addresses its responsibility for the harms it has caused,'' he said. Nothing in the Friday deal, Mr Hornbuckle said, ''compensates the public for the significant damages to its natural resources and environment, and BP has yet to pay a penalty for its violations of law''. [7] Lawyers for the plaintiffs said that BP had agreed to pay all legitimate claims, and that the figure BP gave was an estimate only. [16] The plaintiffs' attorneys point out, though, that there is no cap on how much BP will have to pay. They say the company will have to pay all legitimate claims under this agreement. [47] ''We're hoping that there won't be that many bumps in the road, and the claims process will be much improved.'' ''It looks like it's all about fees,'' he said, and predicted: ''You're going to have a lot of opt outs.'' Under the proposed agreement, fees for work already done by the plaintiffs' team are expected to be paid by BP, and will not come from individual plaintiffs, though those plaintiffs may be billed for additional work in preparing their claims. [7]

The April 2010 explosion killed 11 workers and leaked 4m barrels of oil. "While we are pleased that BP may be stepping up to address harms to individual plaintiffs, this by no means fully addresses its responsibility for the harms it has caused," the Department of Justice said. [40]

Clifford Krauss reported from Houston and John M. Broder from Washington. This story, " Deepwater oil drilling accelerates as BP disaster fades, " first appeared in the New York Times. [46] With the oil from the gulf needed more than ever, and BP already given the all clear to resume drilling some months ago, this is just horse trading now. [13] For a time after the BP spill, the drilling moratorium ordered by the Obama administration caused a decline in gulf production, but a reversal has occurred. [46] "We've opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and approved more than 400 drilling permits since we put in place new safety standards in the wake of the gulf oil spill," Mr. Obama said. [46] Eleven people died and 4.9 million barrels of oil spewed from the mile-deep (1.6 km-deep) Macondo oil well in by far the worst offshore U.S. oil spill. [50]

Billions more are at stake in civil and potential criminal fines for environmental damage caused when the well blew in 2010, killing 11 rig workers and spewing some 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. [6] Last month, Repsol, a Spanish oil and gas company, using a state-of-the-art, Norwegian-designed, Chinese-built, semi-submersible rig called Scarabeo 9, began drilling the first in a series of deep-water exploratory wells in the Florida Straits, at a cost of $500,000 a day. [45] Browne drove a stunning spree of acquisitions while pushing BP into riskier drilling and ruthlessly cutting costs. In 1990, for example, he cut 1,700 jobs before tasking managers with finding $750 million in budget reductions. [21]

BP has promised to pay $105 million to improve health care in the Gulf region. [37] Mitsui & Co.' s MOEX Offshore 2007, a partner in the well, said the same day it would pay $90 million to resolve federal Clean Water Act claims. [18] The first phase may last as long as three months. Barbier said he might not make any rulings until all three phases are finished. In the first phase, he will also consider rig-owner Transocean's claim that its financial liability to non- government parties is capped at $27 million under a 160-year-old maritime law limiting a vessel owner's exposure to the value of its ship and cargo. The agency said it created a task force led by its criminal division to investigate the disaster. [18] The leases are worth $330 million to the federal government and have the potential to produce 400 million barrels of oil. [46]

HOUSTON Nearly two years after an explosion on an oil platform killed 11 workers and sent millions of gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, deepwater drilling has regained momentum in the gulf and is spreading around the world. [46] The drilling rig exploded in April 2010 killing 11 men and spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. [51] The rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, killing 11 workers and leaking four million barrels of oil. [41]

The suits consolidated in federal court in New Orleans were filed by fishermen who lost work, cleanup workers who got sick and others who claimed harm from the oil giant's April 20, 2010 Gulf disaster. [10]

In a desperate attempt to protect Gulf beaches - and, say critics, BPs bottom line - dispersants were dumped on the spilt oil here before it made land. [44] "From the beginning, BP stepped up to meet our obligations to the communities in the Gulf Coast region, and we've worked hard to deliver on that commitment for nearly two years," Bob Dudley, BP's chief executive officer said in a statement. [23] If "definitive and fully documented agreements" aren't reached within 45 days, either side has the right to terminate the proposed settlement, according to BP's statement. [11] BP, however, stressed that the proposed settlement is not an "admission of liability" by the company. [30] Should the Trust not be sufficient, payments under the proposed settlement would be made by BP directly. [35]

A court-supervised claims process will replace it, pending the creation of what BP described as "the infrastructure for the new settlement claims". [13] Payments in class action settlements typically are not made until after final approval of a settlement, but BP has agreed not to wait for final approval of the economic loss settlement before claims are paid. [35]

Shares for the defendant firms fell after the explosion. The litigation and potential liabilities remain a drag on these stocks, Brian Youngberg, an analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, said Feb. 22 in an interview. An out-of-court settlement, even for an amount higher than investors expect, might be a boon to BP by removing the "worst case scenario," he said. "The question is, how long will that take?" BP shares were about 23 percent below their pre-disaster price at the end of the day yesterday. [18] The judge said he delayed the trial because the settlement "would likely result in a realignment of the parties in this litigation and require substantial changes" to the trial plan he adopted. BP is poised to gain at least 5 percent this week, an analyst survey showed. [19] Under the federal Clean Water Act, the criminal fine could be as much as twice the total spill damages, an amount that might be calculated by a judge or trial jury or as part of a settlement. [19]

The trial will probably still go ahead in order to apportion blame for the spill among BP and its fellow defendants. Other companies involved include Transocean, who owned the rig, and Halliburton. All the companies are in dispute with each other over their liability to each other. [40] The main targets of litigation resulting from the explosion and spill were BP, Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron International, maker of the well's failed blowout preventer. [24]

Last month BP has set out a strategy for drilling 12 exploration wells and a $22bn capital spending programme. [52] BP says it expects the money to come from a $20bn (£12.6bn) compensation fund it had previously set aside. [40]

BRADY: There is $2.3 billion that's been set aside specifically for the Gulf seafood industry. Some of those shrimpers and others have lost so much business because of this spill. This should give them a boost. BRADY: That's right. [47] The Gulf seafood industry will receive $2.3 billion for economic loss, while other claims for economic loss and medical issues will also be covered. [25]

The government is "fully prepared" to try environmental claims over the spill to "hold the responsible parties accountable for the damage suffered in the Gulf region," Hornbuckle said in the e-mailed statement. [19] The Justice Department wants to ensure any resolution of damages claims "is just, fair and restores the Gulf for the benefit of the people of the Gulf states," the statement added. [4]

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"People, organizations have to be held accountable, responsible for the lives that were disrupted, the economic harm that was inflicted." Transocean is not a party to the new settlement, and said Friday night that "deals made by other players do not change the facts of this case, and we are fully prepared to argue the merits of our case based on those facts." The class action settlement sets up procedures for claimants to file for economic or medical damages, or both, and includes an appeals process for those who consider settlement offers insufficient. [20] A settlement would remove a significant portion of the complex case, but it would not put an end to BP's exposure. [22] In a strongly worded statement, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said the settlement "by no means fully addresses its responsibility for the harms it has caused" or meant that BP had paid for "its violation of law". [14] The U.S. Justice Department, however, suggested the settlement is not the end of BP's legal entanglements or payments. [4]

BP faces two other legal actions, from the U.S. government and from five states affected by the environmental consequences of the disaster. [52] State governments in the area affected and drilling firms are amongst others expected to continue legal action against BP. [40]

A trial, in addition to government pollution claims, would cover cross-claims between BP and its partners. [19] BP has been eager to settle claims quickly, in part to move beyond the incident and in part to avoid a potentially embarrassing trial that would rehash events or uncover potentially damaging information about the blowout's causes. [16]

The trial had been due to start tomorrow after Judge Barbier had given BP another week to find a deal. [31] U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans had been set to hear evidence in a trial starting today to decide fault for the spill. [19] U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans yesterday postponed the trial, scheduled to start today, in light of the settlement. [17] U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier wrote in an order that the two sides have "reached an agreement on the terms of a proposed class settlement which will be submitted to the court for approval." [48] Herman said medical claims won't be paid until U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier gives final approval to the overall settlement, which could take months. [36]

New vehicles will be set up and supervised by the court to pay claims as part of Friday's settlement. [10] Under federal law, there is an established procedure for determining the fairness, reasonableness and adequacy of class action settlements. Pursuant to this procedure, and subject to the Court granting preliminary approval of both agreements, there would be extensive outreach to the public, including through advertisements and direct mail, to explain the settlement agreements, class members' rights, including the right to "opt out" of the classes, and the processes for making claims. [35]

The agreement is "very positive," said Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in New York. It "could speed up a government settlement and remove this dark cloud that has been hanging over BP for two years," he said in an e-mailed response to questions. [17] Election-year politics could play a role in the government's decision on whether to agree to an out-of-court settlement with BP, Tulane's Sherman said. [19]

BP CEO Bob Dudley said in a statement that the settlement "represents significant progress toward resolving issues" from the disaster. [8] "How does that advance the ball at all?" asked Anthony Buzbee, a Houston attorney representing 12,000 plaintiffs against BP, but who was not on the committee that negotiated the settlement. [29] News of the settlement with the plaintiffs was welcomed by BP's senior executives. [14]

"The settlement is to be fully funded by BP, with no cap on the amount BP will pay," the group added. [48]

BP are like the guy who hired a taxi (the drill rig), Transocean owned and drove the taxi, Halliburton made faulty tyres for the taxi, the taxi crashed, yet BP ended up with all the blame, and is the only company to pay out anything. [13] Cameron and Swaco are still defendants after settling only with BP. The disaster sparked hundreds of lawsuits by businesses and coastal property owners against BP, its partners and contractors, including Transocean, the Vernier, Switzerland- based owner and operator of the rig, and Houston-based Halliburton, which provided cementing services. [26] BP, which owned the well; Transocean, the rig's owner; and Halliburton, which provided cement services, all are named as defendants. [38] BP, the majority owner of the well that blew out, was leasing the rig from Transocean. [42]

While Mark Hafle, a Houston-based BP drilling engineer, warned Vidrine in a phone call that stability tests on the well might be flawed, "neither man stopped work" at the facility, Transocean said. [19] The BP officials allowed crews to continue displacing drilling fluid in the well with seawater, attorneys for the oil- drilling company said. [19] By the Obama administration's accounting, 61 drilling permits for wells in more than 500 feet of water were granted in the 12 months ending Feb. 27, only six fewer than were permitted in the same period in 2009 and 2010 before the BP explosion. [46]

The expansion of deepwater drilling is happening despite accidents in offshore fields, though none have compared to the BP spill. [46] BP faces other economic liabilities from the spill, including the cost of environmental rehabilitation, and could be hit with costly criminal charges and punitive damages ranging from one to five times the cost of compensation. [4] BP is also on the hook for all economic damages caused by the spill, including the cost of environmental restoration and rehabilitation, and could also be hit with costly criminal charges. [23]

At the time, some analysts put the final cost to BP at up to $200bn, a figure that now looks fanciful. [52] "So the cost depends on how many people are out there and how well it works. It's not that there's a pot of money for $7.8 billion;. [34] The company warned that, although the accord is for $7.8 billion, the $14 billion remaining in the trust may not be enough to satisfy all the costs the fund was created to address. [17]

The Department of Justice, which is bringing a federal negligence case under the Clean Water Act that could cost as much as $US18 billion, said it remains ''fully prepared'' to try the case. [3]

The federal claims stand to be far larger than those of private claimants, and could bring billions of dollars into the U.S. Treasury in civil environmental fines under statutes such as the Clean Water Act, and potentially even more in criminal penalties. [7]

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"The political discourse about energy has really changed over the last two years," said Daniel Yergin, the oil historian and author of "The Quest," a book about energy security. Despite the BP accident, he added, "there's a new focus on how U.S. oil production should increase both onshore and offshore." [46] BP, at Browne's urging, embraced the "green" banner boldly to the chagrin of Browne's oil industry peers, Lustgarten says. It was Browne who led the rebranding of the company with the slogan, "Beyond Petroleum." That embrace was in message only, not in practice, the author writes. From 1989, when Browne took over BP's exploration and production group, and after he became CEO in 1995, the soft-spoken opera lover doggedly pursued making BP "the largest, most successful oil company in the world," Lustgarten writes. [21]

Halliburton claimed BP gave inaccurate information about the location of hydrocarbon zones, a risk factor, in the Macondo oil well to avoid stalling the project. [26] A report last year by the National Oil Spill Commission spread blame among all three for not properly evaluating risk in the well design, not designing a better cement mixture for the well and not recognizing early signs of the underwater blowout that led to the explosion. [38] Workers at a Gulf oil spill decontamination site in Venice, Louisiana, on May 4, 2010, carry a oil containment boom that had been cleaned. [31] Non-government plaintiffs in the case include fishermen, shrimpers, restaurants, hotels, workers and business and property owners along the Gulf coast affected by the spill. [26]

The $7.8bn (£4.9bn) deal does not address "significant damages" to the environment after the Gulf of Mexico spill, the Department of Justice said. [40] Barring a deal by all sides, though, the judge will begin hearing evidence March 5 on whether the companies must pay punitive damages to victims and fines to the government for polluting the Gulf of Mexico. [18]

April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Anastasia Haydulina reports on the clean-up operation after the BP-leased rig Deepwater Horizon caught fire and sank last week in the Gulf of Mexico. [11] Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in this April 21, 2010 file handout image. [2] The explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 workers when flammable gas leaked from the well and ignited. [4]

Pinon said that Cuba, with a tiny navy and a thin coast guard, has only 5 percent of the resources needed to contain a spill approaching the size of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. "The U.S. Coast Guard is terrified," he said. [45] U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Feb. 28 that the U.S. has a "strong" case over liability for the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon. [11] Fellow contractor Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, is also a defendant in the case. He is tasked with determining how much of the blame rests with each party and whether punitive damages should be imposed. [51]

By the time Hayward became CEO in 2007, Lustgarten argues, disregard for safety was entrenched in BP's culture. This culture comes to a head in "Run to Failure" with a gripping, minute-by-minute account of the Deepwater Horizon events. [21] Crews suck up oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in Grand Isle, Louisiana, on June 9, 2010. [48] “We are hopeful that the resolution of the private plaintiffs’ lawsuit will provide swift and sure compensation to those harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” Wyn Hornbuckle, a Justice Department spokesman, said yesterday in an e-mail. [32]

Hanging over the oil giant is the threat of tens of billions of dollars in fines and penalties should it be found negligent or grossly negligent over the Deepwater disaster. [44] As oil washed ashore on hundreds of miles of coastline and the Gulf's tourism and fishing industries faltered, President Obama called the spill "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced." [29] U.S. President Barack Obama called the spill "the worst environmental disaster the nation has ever faced". It took 85 days to permanently stop the release of crude oil. [51] U.S. law bars most American companies -- including oil services and spill containment contractors -- from conducting business with the communist island. The embargo, now entering its 50th year, also limits direct government-to-government talks. [45] As energy companies from Spain, Russia and Malaysia line up to drill for oil in Cuban waters 60 miles from the Florida Keys, U.S. agencies are struggling to cobble together emergency plans to protect fragile reefs, sandy beaches and a multibillion-dollar tourism industry in the event of a spill. [45]

The Republican majority in the House has passed legislation to speed lease sales on public lands while pressing to open the Atlantic and Pacific coasts -- which have been largely politically untouchable since the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 -- to extensive oil and gas development. "This is a president who does not understand energy," said Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, while campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination last week in Fargo, N.D. "He is the problem. He is not the solution." Mr. Romney, who said last week that he had named a billionaire oil industry executive, Harold Hamm of Continental Resources, to lead his team of energy advisers, has said he would relax regulations and speed the permitting process. [46]

Last September a team of Coast Guard officials and federal regulators issued a report that concluded BP bears ultimate responsibility for the spill. [53] A cross with the words "Promises Made"-- referring to statements from BP and government officials -- stands in front of a pile of crosses symbolizing things that were impacted by the spill, in a front yard in Grand Isle, La. [6] BP General Counsel Rupert Bondy said it wasn't appropriate to comment on the state of negotiations with others over the spill. [19] In January 2011, a presidential commission found that the spill was caused by time-saving and money-saving decisions by BP, Halliburton and Transocean that created unacceptable risk. [42] Transocean officials have said BP is contractually responsible for any incidents stemming from problems with the well. "We have a good contract in good faith with BP and we expect them to honor that," says Lou Colasuonno, a Transocean spokesman. [38] Among the defendants were BP, the well operator and majority shareholder in the venture, rig-owner Transocean, construction contractor Halliburton and other firms associated with the project. [48]

BP and its partners face the threat of tens of billions of dollars in fines and penalties if found grossly negligent in the case. The UK firm is expected to blame its main contactor, Halliburton, which is a fellow defendant. [51] "We have a very strong case to make against BP and other defendants, so we look forward to trial," Strange says. [6] BP has been in intense negotiations with some of the more than 100,000 different plaintiffs, negotiations that stretched on past the scheduled trial start date and long into the chilly New Orleans nights. [44] If the liability trial moves ahead, lawyers from the private plaintiffs' group may still be involved in presenting government pollution claims, said Paul Sterbcow, a New Orleans- based lawyer who serves on one of the group's trial committees. [19] Plaintiffs' attorneys argue that BP placed profit and speed over safety. Lawyers for BP counter that its officials weren't the only ones at fault. "The record developed in this proceeding leads directly to the conclusion that no single action, person or party was the sole cause of the blowout," Mike Brock, an attorney for BP, says in a written statement. [38] Lawyers for the plaintiffs group, the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, said the settlement "does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people". [40] Elements of the rough outlines of the proposal before the judge already have some plaintiffs' lawyers grumbling. Anyone who currently has an offer of settlement payment from the Feinberg fund will receive only 60 per cent of that money right away, and will have to join the broader lawsuit to receive the rest, though plaintiffs will then be able to choose the original offer if they prefer. [7]

There was speculation last week that Halliburton, the group which supplied the specialised cement that failed to seal the Macondo well, was also close to reaching a settlement of more than a billion dollars with plaintiffs. [13] Beverly Stafford, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said after the settlement was announced that the oil-drilling services company continues to deny any liability for the spill. "Halliburton will continue to defend its position regarding the Macondo well as the litigation further develops," she said in a phone interview. [19]

The London-based oil giant said the settlement, reached with the Plaintiffs Steering Committee in the multi-district litigation, would "resolve the substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims" stemming from the accident. [16] Coastal residents and crews hired to clean up the mess complained of skin, respiratory and other ailments from exposure to the oil and the chemical dispersants. The settlement Friday is aimed at damages like those. [20] More settlements should follow, said St. John’s Sabino. “None of these companies will collapse, but there are substantial damages if a judgment goes the wrong way,” he said, adding that coming this close to trial without settling may mean some parties are “playing chicken. “Chicken is very dangerous for both sides,” he said. [26] As a result of the settlement that will be filed with the court for approval, the trial that was scheduled to begin Monday has been postponed for a second time, Barbier said. [24] Barbier noted that the settlement must be submitted to the court for approval. He also canceled the opening of the trial in his New Orleans courtroom, which had been scheduled for Monday. [5]

As a result of the settlement that will be filed with the court for approval, the trial that was scheduled to begin Monday has been postponed for a second time. [42]

The settlement is preliminary, and is subject to final written agreement, which must be made within 45 days, as well as court approval. [14] The Court would then decide whether or not to approve each proposed settlement agreement. [35] The proposed settlement is comprised of two separate agreements, one to resolve economic loss claims and another to resolve medical claims. Each proposed agreement provides that class members would be compensated for their claims on a claims-made basis, according to agreed compensation protocols in separate court-supervised claims processes. [35] The proposed settlement could also be good news for attorneys, who could stand to charge big fees for negotiating claims. "They're attempting to negotiate their fees," said Daniel Becnel, a Louisiana tort attorney who represents clients who have filed claims with Feinberg. [50]

The settlement sets new criteria for calculating compensation, and transfers claims processing from Feinberg's fund to a new court-supervised fund based in New Orleans. [50]

The rest of the money paid out by BP will be determined by two separate sets of formulas and matrices, one for economic claims and one for medical claims. [16] The payout agreed to Friday is BP's best estimate of what it will cost to meet outstanding claims, but is not capped and could wind up being higher. [29] The company contends the accord means BP will indemnify, or cover, all claims against Cameron in connection with the incident, she said. [19] The Department of Justice says it is pleased BP may be stepping up to address harms to individuals, but says the deal by no means addresses the company's full responsibility. [6] Initial business reaction to the proposed deal was positive. ''It's a good thing for BP because it is a good step forward,'' said Nancy Schmitt, president and partner at Taum Sauk Capital Management, a hedge fund. ''It took Exxon 20 years to settle the Exxon Valdez,'' she said. ''It looks like a fair deal and a step in the right direction.'' [7]

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A joint report by the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement cited as the main cause of the April 20, 2010, disaster "BP's cost- or time-saving decisions without considering contingencies and mitigation". [30] There will now be a 45-day delay to the start of the huge court case BP still faces as a consequence of the environmental disaster. [13] Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said in a statement Saturday: "We are fully prepared to try our case, and we hope that the court sets a new trial date in the near future." [34] No new date was immediately set. The settlement will require substantial changes to the current trial plan but he didn't elaborate, the judge said. [24] Barbier had previously delayed the start of the civil trial to allow the parties more time to negotiate a settlement. [25] In a statement, Feinberg said the settlement "avoids a lengthy complex trial and uncertain appeals." [50]

Stephen J. Herman and James P. Roy, the leading plaintiffs' negotiators, said in a statement that the settlement provides compensation in "a transparent and expeditious manner under rigorous judicial oversight. It does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people." Mike Papantino, one of the attorneys representing plaintiffs but not a member of the steering committee, said he was happy with the settlement. "I think everybody should be," he said Friday night. [16] Lawyers for the committee, Stephen Herman and James Roy, said the settlement would compensate hundreds of thousands of victims. "It does the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people," they said. [22]

A group representing the plaintiffs in the case said the settlement "will fully compensate hundreds of thousands of victims of the tragedy." [48] The outcomes might provide a template for settlement of the remaining cases, some of which might be distributed to other courts. [26]

U.S. officials are open to the possibility of "a fair and just settlement," Wyn Hornbuckle, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said in a March 2 statement. [19] If “definitive and fully documented agreements” aren’t reached within 45 days, either side has the right to terminate the proposed settlement, according to BP’s statement. [32]

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Eleven rig workers were killed and, according to the government, more than 200 million gallons of oil spewed before the well was capped nearly three months later. [42] Once the explosion occurred, scared and injured crew hurled themselves from the burning rig into the Gulf of Mexico as a handful of workers tried to disconnect the rig from the well. [21] After several attempts to cap the well failed, engineers finally were successful on July 15, halting the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico after more than 85 days. [24]

People in Lafayette, La., wear "Keep Drilling" tee shirts at the "Rally for Economic Survival" opposing the federal ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, July 21. [46] In the vacuum, a Coast Guard admiral in Miami and a dozen technocrats from Cuba and the United States have begun to quietly engage in an awkward partnership of necessity to protect their coastlines, separated by politics but united by the mighty Gulf Stream. "This is a case of Cold War ideology colliding with 21st-century environmental policy, and it is the environment that is at risk," said Lee Hunt, president of the International Association of Drilling Contractors. [45]

Criminal provisions of the Clean Water Act allow for penalties up to twice the amount of the economic loss resulting from the accident - in contrast to the civil penalties, which are specifically tied to the amount spilled. Chick Foret, a former federal and state prosecutor, said criminal charges might arise if, for example, investigators found evidence that firms or individuals involved in the Macondo project deliberately provided misinformation about its risks before the spill or the severity of the accident in its aftermath. Both have denied gross negligence. [20] David Uhlmann, a former chief of the Justice Department's environmental crimes section, said yesterday in a phone interview that companies involved in the spill could face manslaughter charges over the fatal explosion. Making a case against individual managers would be more difficult, he said. "The Justice Department could charge lower-level employees, but they lack the level of authority within the companies to be good targets," said Uhlmann, who now teaches law at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. "People at higher levels would be great targets but don't have the kind of personal involvement you need to make a case against them." [19]

Following the agreement, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier delayed for a second time the trial into who should shoulder the blame for the explosion that killed 11 people and injured many more in April 2010. [31] "BP has operated in America for more than 100 years, employs nearly 23,000 people in the U.S., and invests more in the U.S. than in any other country." [25]

A "blind shear ram" failed, then faulty electrical valves prevented a "deadman switch" from working. Lustgarten says BP and a contractor, Transocean, also never bothered to install something called an "acoustical control switch," a final backup for such an emergency situation, "even though it had become standard safety equipment for legal drilling in other parts of the world." Lustgarten says there are signs BP has not changed its ways. As recently as late 2010, a BP spokesman downplayed a leaked memo showing that 148 sections of its pipelines in Alaska had severely corroded, the author says. [21]

Finding gross negligence will not be easy, says Eric Smith, associate director of the Tulane Energy Institute. Intangibles, such as BP's contribution to the British and European economies, could be considered, making it difficult for Barbier to unleash unlimited punitive damages, he says. [38] The trial was due to resolve claims for damages and civil penalties arising from the spill. [41] The judge is to conduct two subsequent nonjury proceedings on the size of the spill and efforts to contain it. Jury trials on damages to victims would follow, he has said. [26]

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Trial preparations have produced a staggering 72 million pages of documents and included depositions of more than 300 witnesses. The trial also is designed to determine whether Transocean can limit what it pays those making claims under maritime law. [24]

The U.S. estimates more than 4 million barrels of oil were released into the gulf. [19] The explosion killed 11 workers and sent millions of gallons of oil spewing across the multi-state Gulf region, killing wildlife and destroying livelihoods. [53] Eleven men died in the accident and more than 200 million gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf. [29]

Lustgarten argues that the culture had been spreading like a cancer through the British oil company for years, culminating in the April 2010 tragedy that killed 11, seriously injured 16 and spewed crude oil into the Gulf for 87 days. [21] A well operated by ConocoPhillips and a Chinese state company leaked more than 3,200 barrels of oil and fluid into China's Bohai Bay last June, producing a 324-square mile slick. [46] Spanish oil company Repsol YPF has begun drilling the first well in Cuba's long-awaited exploration of offshore oilfields. [45]

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Addressing economic losses is an important part of the government response in any oil spill." [20] It is worth remembering that the costs of the spill were actually increased by U.S. government over reaction. [41] The U.S. government is pursuing a separate case focusing on liability for the explosion. [53]

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According to a 2004 study by the U.S. Geological Survey, there could be 5 billion barrels of undiscovered oil reserves in the north Cuba basin. While some U.S. lawmakers might not like it, Cuba has every right to drill for oil in its own waters. Congressional Republicans representing Cuban American communities in Florida say the Obama administration should have imposed sanctions and threatened foreign companies such as Repsol from doing business in Cuba. [45]

Just one set of federal fines could reach $18 billion if gross negligence is found. [23] The firm has already spent big in Louisiana: part of the $20bn (£12.6bn) compensation fund it established after the spill has been disbursed here. [44]

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A claims administrator working under the supervision of a federal judge will determine who should be paid. "The workers have a different kind of exposure because they were there all the time, but anybody living in an area where they were at risk of exposure will be eligible to participate in the program," said Ervin Gonzalez, one the plaintiff lawyers leading the litigation. [36] Transocean "bypassed or disabled key safety systems" on the rig, "including a gas safety valve and fire alarm system that were intended to monitor for fire and explosive and toxic gases, with utter disregard for the safety ramifications," victims' lawyers said in a court filing in February 2011. [18]

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Legal experts have speculated the company will try to reach a deal with the federal government that also resolves criminal liability with additional fines or other sanctions. [20]

SOURCES

1. BP reaches $7.8 billion deal over Gulf of Mexico oil spill - The Times of India
2. BP's $7.8 billion deal may speed payments for U.S. spill | Reuters
3. BP to be pressed on $18 billion spill bill
4. AFP: BP settlement over US spill will not end legal drama
5. BP reaches $7.8-billion settlement with oil spill plaintiffs - latimes.com
6. Settlement Only The First Step In BP's Legal Woes : NPR
7. BP's oil spill deal leaves questions unanswered
8. BP spill settlement clears way for comeback | ajc.com
9. BP reaches $7.8 bn deal over Gulf of Mexico spill - The Times of India
10. BP settles spill claims for $7.8 billion. Will victims take it? - CSMonitor.com
11. BP Reaches Estimated $7.8 Billion Deal With Gulf Spill Victims - Bloomberg
12. BP, Plaintiffs Reach Settlement in Gulf Oil Spill Case - WSJ.com
13. BBC News - BPs Deepwater Horizon settlement
14. US to press on with $18bn BP lawsuit despite settlement - Telegraph
15. BP Spill Saga Far From Over - WSJ.com
16. BP, plaintiffs reach Gulf of Mexico oil spill settlement - The Washington Post
17. BP Shares Seen Gaining With Gulf Oil Spill Settlement Cost Below Estimates - Bloomberg
18. BP Oil Spill Trial to Start as Settlement Pressure Grows - Bloomberg
19. BP Case Shifts to Fines That May Top $17B - Bloomberg
20. Billions of dollars in claims loom despite settlement - Houston Chronicle
21. Browne's BP cost-cutting led to Gulf spill, book says | Reuters
22. BP reaches £4.9bn Gulf oil spill deal - Telegraph
23. BP reaches settlement over Gulf of Mexico spill - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
24. The Associated Press: BP, plaintiffs reach Gulf oil spill settlement
25. BP Reaches $7.8B Settlement With Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill Plaintiffs | Fox News
26. BP Spill Trial Starts Amid Settlement Pressure - Businessweek
27. BP, Plaintiffs Reach $7.8B Gulf Spill Settlement | Fox News
28. BP expects to pay $7.8B in Gulf spill suit deal | ajc.com
29. Gulf oil spill: Complex claims unresolved in BP settlement | Alaska Dispatch
30. BP to pay $7.8 bn to victims of oil spill | Northern Voices Online: NVO News Blog
31. Guarded welcome for BP's $7.8bn settlement - Telegraph
32. BP Reaches $7.8B Deal With Gulf Spill Victims - Businessweek
33. BP avoids potentially costly trial, sets up potential settlement of remaining oil spill claims - The Washington Post
34. BP moves closer to containing financial damage from oil spill - The Washington Post
35. BP statement on the oil spill settlement in full - Telegraph
36. The Associated Press: BP settlement includes new health claims process
37. BP oil spill accord will track related health issues, compensate victims - The Washington Post
38. Trial to put BP oil spill in perspective - USATODAY.com
39. BP Expects to Pay $7.8B in Gulf Spill Deal - TIME
40. BBC News - US government to continue BP Deepwater Horizon case
41. BBC News - BP reaches $7.8bn deal over Deepwater Horizon oil spill
42. BP Reaches Settlement With Gulf Oil Spill Victims : NPR
43. BP, Plaintiffs Reach Deal In Gulf Oil Spill Case : NPR
44. BBC News - BP oil spill: Louisiana ruin remains
45. Cuba drills for oil, but U.S. unprepared for potential spill - The Washington Post
46. NYT: Deepwater drilling picks up as BP disaster fades - Business - Oil & energy - msnbc.com
47. BP Settles With Oil Spill Victims : NPR
48. BP, plaintiffs reach billion dollar deal in Gulf oil spill - CNN.com
49. BP spill settlement clears way for comeback | abc11.com
50. BP's $7.8 bn deal may speed payments for US spill
51. BBC News - BP close to deal on Deepwater Horizon Gulf oil spill
52. BBC News - BP settlement raises hopes for the future
53. BP Reaches Deal for Gulf Oil Spill Lawsuits | News | English
54. Legal Newsline



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