BP is hoping to reach a settlement with the US authorities in which it would pay less than $15 billion to resolve all criminal and civil penalties and damages arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig disaster and oil spill, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
That figure is substantially less than the $25 billion the department of justice is seeking from the company, the person said, adding that negotiations were accelerating.
An agreement could be reached before the Democratic Party’s convention in September.
“If can do a deal for under $15 billion and with elements that are tax-deductible, that would be good for BP,” the person told the Financial Times.
BP and the department of justice declined to comment.
Efforts by Bob Dudley, BP chief executive, to rebuild the company have been hampered by lingering uncertainty over the scale of the final bill for the Gulf of Mexico disaster, which killed 11 men and caused the world’s largest offshore oil spill. – (Copyright the Financial Times Limited 2012)
