BP says it is in "advanced discussions" with US agencies about settling criminal and other claims from the Gulf of Mexico well disaster two years ago.
However, in a statement, BP said "no final agreement has yet been reached".
Any settlement is likely to involve the UK oil major paying a record corporate fine in the US.
BP said any deal would not include civil claims under the Clean Water Act, pending private civil claims, and state claims for economic loss.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 workers and released millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days.
On Wednesday, the Reuters news agency cited unnamed BP sources as saying that the company would plead guilty to criminal misconduct in exchange for a waiver of future prosecution on the charges.
The oil giant said on Thursday: "BP confirms that it is in advanced discussions with the United States Department of Justice and the Securities & Exchange Commission regarding proposed resolutions of all US federal government criminal and SEC claims against BP in connection with the Deepwater Horizon incident."
It also said any such agreement would still be subject to court approvals.
A settlement is expected to dwarf the largest previous corporate criminal penalty assessed by the Department of Justice, the $1.2bn fine imposed on drug maker Pfizer in 2009.
The oil giant has been selling assets worth billions of pounds to raise money to settle all claims. The company is expected to make a final payment of $860m into the $20bn Gulf of Mexico compensation fund by the end of the year.
BP has booked provisions of $38.1bn to cover its liabilities from the incident, but the company has said the final cost remained highly uncertain.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20336898#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
mac virus santorum drops out bby zimmerman website miami marlins marlins marlins
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.