BP Group has agreed Thursday to pay $4.5 billion to close U.S. federal investigation related to the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, caused in 2010 by an explosion at an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
The group has pleaded guilty and will pay $4 billion to settle all 14 criminal charges from the Department of Justice. Payment will be made in installments over a period of five years, it reads a statement from the company registered in London, according to Bloomberg. BP will also pay $525 million in settlement charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The group has pleaded guilty to 14 criminal counts, including 11 counts of improper conduct or negligence of ships’ officers and involuntary manslaughter, and a charge of obstruction of justice by lying to Congress in connection with estimates of the scale of the oil spill.
The criminal settlement, which is subject to U.S. federal court approval, doesn’t cover the federal and state civil claims – BP said it would “vigorously defend” the ongoing civil litigation.
The April 2010 explosion at the drilling rig killed 11 workers and led to the biggest offshore oil leak in U.S. history. The sinking of the overseas platform Deepwater Horizon and the oil spill resulted in the initiation of hundreds of lawsuits against BP and its partners and contractors.
Justice Department sued BP in December 2010, accusing the company that it failed to prevent and control the environmental disaster and demanded to fine the group for each barrel of oil leaked into the ocean. U.S. government authorities have estimated that over 4 million barrels of oil leaked into the ocean.
BP has established additional reserves of $3.5 billion to pay the fines for water pollution. The group concluded in March an agreement with most non-governmental applicants and accepted a payment estimated at $7.8 billion.
A statement from Bob Dudley, BP’s Chief executive, reads: “All of us at BP deeply regret the tragic loss of life caused by the Deepwater Horizon accident as well as the impact of the spill on the Gulf coast region.”
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