(Adds statement from plaintiffs' attorneys)
May 20 (Reuters) - BP Plc has settled with oilfieldservices provider Halliburton Co and contract drillerTransocean Ltd cross claims related to the 2010 Gulf ofMexico oil spill, the worst offshore disaster in U.S. history.
BP still faces a potential fine of up to $13.7 billion underthe U.S. Clean Water Act.
Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, hadsettled its Clean Water Act liability for $1 billion. The U.S.government never sued Halliburton under the Act, one personfamiliar with the case said.
"We have now settled all matters relating to the accidentwith both our partners in the well and our contractors,"BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said in an email.
Transocean said BP would pay the company $125 million incompensation for legal fees it incurred, adding the companieswill mutually release all claims against each other.
The company added BP will also discontinue its attempts torecover as an "additional insured" under Transocean's liabilitypolicies that will accelerate the company's recovery of about$538 million in insurance claims.
Transocean also said it would pay about $212 million to afund set up to pay out claims to people and businesses harmed bythe spill, subject to the approval by U.S. District Court forthe Eastern District of Louisiana.
"We applaud Transocean for adding to the settlement fundsestablished in the Halliburton settlement to help compensatepeople and businesses for their losses," said co-leadplaintiffs' attorneys, Stephen Herman and James Roy.
Transocean said it intends to make the payments using cashon hand.
In September, a U.S. judge ruled that BP was mostly at faultand that Transocean and Halliburton were not as much to blame.
Halliburton, which did the cementing work for BP's well, hadearlier blamed BP's decision to use only six centralizers forthe blowout that spilled millions of barrels of oil for 87 days.
Halliburton said in September that it reached a $1.1 billionsettlement for a majority of claims related to its role in theoil spill.
London-based BP has already taken $43.8 billion in pretaxcharges for clean-up and other costs. (Reporting by Anannya Pramanick and Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluruand Terry Wade in Houston; Editing by Don Sebastian and LisaShumaker)