Deepwater rig owners to pay $1.4bn over role in disaster

Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded three years ago causing 11 deaths and pollution of the Gulf of Mexico and the US coast, has agreed to pay $400m (£253m, €299m) in criminal penalties and a $1bn civil fine.

The Swiss-based company, which admitted violating the Clean Water Act, is to pay the fines over the next five years. As part of the settlement with the US Department of Justice, Transocean will make improvements to the safety and emergency responses on its rigs. The agreement must be approved by a federal judge.

Transocean and BP, which leased the rig, had disagreed about where responsibility lay for interpreting a negative pressure test that could have warned of the dangers.

However, Transocean has now admitted some of its crew “were negligent in failing to fully investigate clear indications that the Macondo well was not secure”.

The US government intends to spend the $1.4bn on environmental projects and research and training to prevent more spills. When the penalties were announced, Transocean’s shares rose by 6.4% in New York and BP’s by 1.7%.

In November, BP agreed to pay $4.5bn to the US government, including a $1.26bn criminal fine (EP, December 2012, p1). Since the spill, BP has spent another $14bn on cleaning up the pollution and compensating victims.

BP now goes to court in New Orleans on February 25 accused of gross negligence, which it denies. If found guilty, it could have to pay civil damages of $21bn.

US Attorney General Eric Holder said of the Transocean settlement: “The resolution of criminal allegations and civil claims … brings us one significant step closer to justice for the human, environmental and economic devastation wrought by the Deepwater Horizon disaster.”