new YORK (Reuters) – Bp plc reached an agreement estimated at 7.8 billion dollars with business that brought him to justice by the massive spill of crude oil of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, announced the British company, although it still faces demands of the American Government, other States and partners of drilling.
The American judge Carl Barbier, a determination taken three days before the case went to trial, said that the terms of the proposed agreement would be sent to the Court for approval.
The judge had already delayed the start of the trial to allow a negotiation with the Commission’s direction of plaintiffs, who is representing fishermen and businesses who say that their livelihoods were affected by the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon platform and spillage of the Macondo well.
Lawyers of the Commission, Stephen Herman and James Roy, said the agreement would offset hundreds of thousands of victims of the disaster. “Done much good to a huge number of people,” affirmed.
BP argued that the proposed agreement will be around $ 7.8 billion, including a $ 2.3 billion commitment to help solve loss demands related to the fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico.
The British giant indicated that the agreement was not an admission of liability and that it would allocate some claimants of its legal actions against Transocean and Halliburton.
Apart of BP, which owns 65 per cent of the deposit of Macondo, the main corporate defendants are signature-based Switzerland Transocean Ltd, which owned Deepwater Horizon, and Halliburton Co based in Houston, which provided services of coating for the well. The companies also are are demanding each other.
Many other companies are involved in the trial.
Eleven people died in the explosion on April 20, 2010 and 4.9 billion barrels of oil were dumped into the sea with the underwater well filtration, far worse spill of crude sea inland on the history of United States.
An agreement remove a significant part of the complex case, but it would not end the exposure of BP.
The giant oil company still faces demands from the US Government, denouncing violations of the Act of clean water and other laws, what could determine fines by billions of dollars.
BP must also respond to demands of the Gulf States in addition to their drilling partners.
“Agreements or delays by other stakeholders do not change the facts in this case and we are fully prepared to argue in favour of our case on the basis of these facts,” said a spokesman for Transocean.
A United States Department of Justice spokesman said that the country he was prepared to go to trial and make those responsible for violating federal laws are punished.
(Additional report of Andrea Shalal – Esa in Washington;) (Edited by Marion Giraldo in Spanish)
