PUBLISHED BY: SURENDER KUMAR
DECEMBER 23, 2012

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Oil giant British Petroleum (BP) has got approval from a US judge for a $ 7.8 billion (Re. 44000 Cr. apprx) settlement with people and businesses which suffered due to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  Although it addresses major private claims over the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and the spill that resulted from its explosion, it does not affect the fines and claims of billions of dollars from the government and affected coastal states and local governments.

Also, it does not resolve the cases filed by shareholders or others because of a drilling moratorium imposed after the worst ecological disaster in US history. The accident had also killed 11 workers.

Both BP and the plaintiff’s attorneys have welcomed the deal that would settle nearly 100,000 claims from fishermen and others. It took 87 days to stop BP’s runaway well 1500 metre below the water surface off the coast of Louisiana as it released 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.