BP hit by wave of new spill lawsuits ahead of April deadline

By Andrew Callus

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - BP Plc has been hit byover 2,200 new lawsuits seeking payback for the 2010 Gulf ofMexico oil spill in the past few weeks as individuals, companiesand government bodies rushed to stake their claim before theirright to do so expired.

The British oil company, whose deepwater Macondo wellruptured on April 20, 2010, killing 11 men and spilling crudeinto the sea for weeks, revealed the number of new claims madesince March 6 in its first-quarter results on Tuesday.

The United States Oil Pollution Act of 1990, under whichmost of the new lawsuits were registered, has a three yearstatute of limitations which could make bringing further legalaction difficult after the third anniversary of the disaster.

BP said it would be applying to have the new legalchallenges consolidated into a trial that is already under wayin New Orleans.

The first phase of the trial of BP and its partners in thewell, Transocean and Halliburton, ended earlierin April, but the judge, Carl Barbier, has yet to rule on thedegree of blame that will be apportioned to each party and onthe level of negligence that will be applied.

Both decisions could have a big impact on the size of BP'sfinal liability, already measured in tens of billions ofdollars. His ruling, to be made without a jury as is traditionalunder U.S. maritime law, could come this summer.

$1.7 BILLION CLAIMS HEADROOM

BP also revealed that its $20 billion spill fund - some ofwhich is earmarked for compensation claims it has already agreedto pay - has only $1.7 billion still unassigned.

The company is fighting to keep a lid on so-called BusinessEconomic Loss (BEL) claims which are being paid out of the fundat a higher rate and to more businesses than it expected.

In the results statement, it raised its estimate of suchcompensation payouts it can already quantify to $8.2 billionfrom $7.7 billion previously.

The estimate has been fluctuating up and down since lastyear, but BP has continued to stress it does not include any BELclaims that have yet to be made or processed. It has said thatshould BEL claims balloon beyond what the $20 billion fund canpay, it will have to take new charges against its profits on topof the $42.2 billion overall provision it has already set aside.