LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) is facing a pollution penalty of as much as $3.5 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, because it owned 25% of the oil well drilled by the ill-fated rig, the Wall street Journal reported. In a trial beginning January 20 Anadarko will argue that it was just an investor in the ill-fated rig, which exploded in 2010.
On Thursday, British oil giant BP Plc. (BP.L, BP_UN.TO, BP) said that a U.S. District Court ruled that 3.19 million barrels of oil were discharged into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the worst offshore oil spill in the U.S. history. However, the Court has now found that BP was 'not grossly negligent' in its source control efforts.
The ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in the phase 2 trial will see BP paying a minimum Clean Water Act (CWA) penalty of $3.5 billion and a maximum of $13.7 billion. However, no penalty has yet been determined.
Under the Clean Water Act, the maximum penalty for 'simply negligent' oil spill is $1,100 per barrel. However, if a company is found 'grossly negligent,' then the penalty surges to as much as $4,300 a barrel. In the phase 1 trial, the court found that BP was 'grossly negligent' in its source control efforts for the oil spill.
The phase 3 of the CWA trial, currently scheduled to begin in the Court on January 20, will address the penalty assessment. BP has reportedly asked that the per-barrel fine be capped at $3,000. BP has already allocated $3.5 billion to cover CWA penalty, and has reportedly spent $43 billion in spill response and claims.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico had claimed 11 lives and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The Deepwater Horizon rig that was drilling the Macondo well sank two days after the April 20, 2010 explosion and led to an oil spill of millions of gallons that impacted beaches and the fishing sector.
The well was finally capped nearly three months later on July 15, 2010. The spill is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX