On July 2, 2015, BP Plc offered to pay a record $18.7 billion over 15 years in an in-principle agreement to settle all US government federal and state claims from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill after an abrupt strategy shift in May to re-open talks.
The company had committed to fight the claims in court after negotiations fell apart in 2013. For this, it had reserved $3.5 billion before the trial began. But falling oil prices and a federal judge’s recent rulings putting a potential $13.7 billion price tag on Clean Water Act violations motivated BP to change tactics in May. The US District Judge Carl Barbier said BP acted with gross negligence and ruled that 3.19 million barrels had spilled, exposing it to as much as $13.7 billion in fines under the Act’s formula. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas will also receive payouts for harm from the disaster, which claimed 11 lives and caused the worst offshore spill in US history.
