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WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - BP Plc will pay morethan $20 billion in fines to resolve nearly all claims from itsdeadly Gulf of Mexico oil spill five years ago, marking thelargest corporate settlement of its kind in U.S. history,Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Monday.
The agreement, first outlined in July, adds to the $43.8billion BP had previously set aside for criminal and civilpenalties and cleanup costs. The company has said its totalpre-tax charge for the spill is now around $53.8 billion.
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The total penalties Lynch announced on Monday sounded higherthan the $18.7 billion deal reached to this summer, in partbecause she included $1 billion in restoration work BP hadagreed to long beforehand.
BP's shares rose nearly 3 percent in New York to $33.45each. Investors have praised the agreement as essentiallycapping liabilities that could have been much larger.
The fines - to be paid to the federal government, five GulfCoast states and hundreds of municipalities over 18 years - willfund environmental restoration and economic development programsto address the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.
"This agreement will launch one of the largest environmentalrestoration efforts the world has ever seen," Lynch said.
The spill fouled 1,300 miles of coastline and dumped morethan three million barrels of crude into the sea, hurtingfishermen and prompting overhauls of safety rules and emergencyplans in one of the world's most prolific offshore oil basins.
The core of the agreement includes $7.1 billion for naturalresource damages, $5.5 billion for Clean Water Act fines, and$4.9 billion in payments to states.
The Macondo well blowout and the fire on the DeepwaterHorizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010 killed 11 workers.
Federal and state officials formally filed the settlement onMonday and it should be approved by a U.S. District Court inLouisiana soon.
"The filing of the consent decree does not reflect a newsettlement or any new money," BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
In the past, BP has paid for liabilities by shedding assets,eroding about one-fifth of the earnings base it had before 2010.Its smaller size among the bigger oil majors has made itvulnerable to potential takeovers, analysts have said.
BP has effectively settled all big claims from the spill.Previous settlements included a fund originally set at $7.8billion to compensate individuals claiming economic harm fromthe spill.
Other settlements included one with contractors TransoceanLtd and Halliburton Co. (Reporting by Susan Heavey, Patrick Rucker and EmilyStephenson; Editing by Terry Wade and Grant McCool)
