BP to pay record fine for Gulf oil spill
Oil company BP has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice over federal criminal charges related to the 2010 oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, officials tell NBC News.
Reports suggest the settlement is in the billions of dollars, and may be a record for a criminal penalty in the U.S.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will make an announcement on the settlement in New Orleans Thursday. The exact location and time of that event has not yet been announced.
The Associated Press also said a person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the deal, said two BP employees face manslaughter charges over the death of 11 people in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the massive spill.
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The person said BP will plead guilty to obstruction for lying to Congress about how much oil was pouring out of the ruptured well.
In a statement on BP's website, the company said "no final agreement has yet been reached" and that any such agreement would still be subject to court approvals.
BP said the proposed settlement would not include civil claims under the Clean Water Act and other legislation, pending private civil claims and state claims for economic loss.
The explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20, 2010, killed 11 workers and set off a spill which continued for 87 days, fouling large areas of the southern coast of the United States.
Any settlement is expected to dwarf the largest previous corporate criminal penalty assessed by the Department of Justice - the $1.2 billion fine imposed on drug maker Prizer in 2009.
BP has booked provisions of $38.1 billion to cover its liabilities from the incident, but the company has said the final cost remained highly uncertain. BP also recently announced that it expects to make the final payment this year to a $20 billion trust fund to cover damage from the blowout.
In March, BP announced a settlement with multiple claimants for medical and economic losses, which is estimated to cost $7.8 billion.
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