BP Settles with US for $4.5 Billion in Gulf Spill
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U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Oil giant BP agreed Thursday to pay more than $4 billion to settle charges stemming from the Gulf oil spill.
The settlement is wide-ranging. It covers all criminal charges and securities claims by regulators. BP will pay $4.5 billion, a record fine, which is about what BP earns each quarter.
BP will plead guilty to felony charges over the deaths of 11 people killed when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded. It will also concede it misrepresented to Congress the amount of oil its Macondo well spewed into the Gulf over 85 days.
Civil claims are still pending and BP says it will “vigorously defend itself” against those.
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