HOUSTON: BP Plc was “grossly negligent” for its role in the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico four years ago, a US district judge said yesterday in a ruling that could add billions of dollars in fines to the more than $42bn in charges taken so far for the worst offshore disaster in US history.
Shares of BP traded in the United States fell 5 percent, or $2.40, to $45.31, eroding about $8.8bn of its market value.
US District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans held a trial without a jury last year to determine who was responsible for the April 20, 2010 environmental disaster. Barbier ruled that BP was mostly at fault and that two other companies in the case, Transocean Ltd and Halliburton, were not as much to blame.
“The Court concludes that the discharge of oil ‘was the result of gross negligence or willful misconduct’ by BP, the ruling said.
BP said it would appeal the ruling. “The law is clear that proving gross negligence is a very high bar that was not met in this case,” BP said in a statement. “BP believes that an impartial view of the record does not support the erroneous conclusion reached by the District Court.”
The disaster struck the US Gulf coast when a surge of methane gas known to rig hands as a “kick” sparked an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig as it was drilling the mile-deep Macondo 252 well off Louisiana. Eleven workers were killed and the rig sank two days later.
The well spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, fouling the shorelines of several states.
Barbier said BP should have been extra careful because deepwater drilling is inherently risky. The judge faulted BP employees for misreading the results of a test on the stability of the Macondo well, suggesting that its blowout could have been prevented.
“Today’s ruling dramatically increases BP’s liability for civil penalties under the Clean Water Act,” said David Uhlmann, a legal expert at the University of Michigan.
REUTERS
