By Greg Morcroft - A U.S. federal judge on Thursday ruled that British energy company BP Plc NYSE:BP (LON:BL) acted with gross negligence that resulted in 2010's Gulf of Mexico accident that killed 11 people and poured millions of gallons of crude into the water over three months. The ruling may force the energy company to pay billions of dollars of claims against it, according to Bloomberg News.
The judge, Carl Barbier, conducted the trial without a jury. The case also included Transocean Ltd. NYSE:RIG and Halliburton Co. NYSE:HAL and they too were found negligent.
“BP’s conduct was reckless. Transocean’s conduct was negligent. Halliburton’s conduct was negligent,” the judge wrote in a decision released by his New Orleans chambers.
According to Bloomberg,
BP, which may face fines of as much as $18 billion, has set aside $3.5 billion to cover those penalties. The company had taken a $43 billion charge to cover all the costs related to the spill, according to a July 29 earnings statement. The ultimate cost is “subject to significant uncertainty,” BP said.
The decision nevertheless may expose BP to unspecified punitive damages for claimants who weren’t part of the $9.2 billion settlement the company reached with most non-government plaintiffs in 2012. The judge left that unclear in his ruling.
Barbier determined that BP was 67 percent responsible for the disaster, while Transocean was responsible for 30 percent with the remaining 3 percent apportioned to Halliburton.
In July a study released about the accident at the Deepwater Horizon well said the impact of the 2010 spill is far more widespread than previously thought. Researchers say the spill’s “footprint” -- the range of the marine ecosystem affected by the Deepwater Horizon disaster -- extends twice as far from the site of the well leak than data first revealed.
BP’s Deepwater Horizon -- a deepwater oil drilling rig 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana -- exploded April 20, 2010, killing 11 crewmen and sparking a fire that could be seen from the mainland. The fire burned for 36 hours before the rig sank to the ocean floor. The resulting oil spill continued until July 15, releasing nearly 5 million barrels, or 210 million gallons, of oil and gas into the environment.
BP shares fell almost 5 percent on Thursday.