Sept 4 (Reuters) - Transocean Ltd said a U.S. courtruling eliminates its financial risk for the underwater portionof a 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after the judge foundBP Plc grossly negligent.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled that BPwas mostly at fault and that two other companies in the case,Transocean and Halliburton, were not as much to blame.
"This is a favorable and welcome ruling for Transocean, itsemployees, and all offshore drilling contractors," ChiefExecutive Officer Steven Newman said in statement.
Transocean also said that the remaining financial risk wasfor the above-surface discharge of pollutants that occurredduring the first two days of the spill.
BP said it would appeal the ruling as it believes thestandard for proving "gross negligence" was not met. (Reporting by Subrat Patnaik; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)