Integrated oil giant BP has confirmed it is close to a deal with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities & Exchange Commission over the Macondo oil well tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico.Media reports suggest that BP has agreed to plead guilty to obstruction for lying to Congress about how much oil was pouring out of the cracked well, in return for a guarantee that there would be no further prosecutions brought by the DoJ on the charges. Two BP employees are also set to face manslaughter charges over the Macondo well incident, which resulted in the death of 11 people.The Reuters news agency has suggested that BP's fine could prove the largest in US corporate history; the unwanted record for the largest fine is held by drugs firm Pfizer, which paid a $1.3bn fine in 2009 in relation to marketing fraud charges.BP said the proposed resolutions are not expected to cover federal civil claims, including Clean Water Act claims, federal and state Natural Resource Damages claims; private civil claims in MDL 2179 that were not covered by the PSC settlement, private securities claims pending in MDL 2185 or state economic loss claims. JH