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LONDON (Alliance News) - BP PLC has failed in its efforts to stop certain payments relating to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to Bloomberg on Tuesday.
The major oil and gas company was told by a federal appeals court that it must abide by terms of a USD9.2 billion settlement with business-loss claimants of the oil spill and the court rejected claims that the administrator is misinterpreting the financial ramifications of the spill.
The company had managed to halt payments in December, arguing that certain companies were not directly financially affected by the worst offshore oil spill in US history.
?In light of our reading of the settlement agreement,? US Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick wrote in the ruling, ?we conclude the settlement agreement does not require a claimant to submit evidence that the claim arose as a result of the oil spill.?
BP told Bloomberg that it disagrees with the decision and continued to argue that it is not acceptable to be paying out losses to companies whose alleged injuries are not traceable to the accident.
"BP believes that such claimants are not proper class members under the terms of the settlement and is considering its appellate options,? Geoff Morrell, a spokesman for BP told Bloomberg.
In April 2010, the deep-water horizon blow out and subsequent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 people and sent millions of barrels of oil into the waters.
BP settled certain liabilities in March 2012 and initially valued its total loss at USD7.8 billion. However, last year, the company increased this figure to USD9.2 billion.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-04/bp-must-live-with-oil-spill-settlement-terms-court-rules-1-.html
By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1
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