LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Oil major BP said onThursday it will appeal a U.S. court decision that found itgrossly negligent with respect to the Gulf of Mexico 2010 oilspill and added the court will hold additional proceedings dueto begin next January.
BP said it will immediately appeal to the United StatesCourt of Appeals as it believes the findings of the DistrictCourt for the Eastern District of Louisiana were not supportedby the evidence at trial.
"The law is clear that proving gross negligence is a veryhigh bar that was not met in this case. BP believes that animpartial view of the record does not support the erroneousconclusion reached by the District Court," it said.
"The Court has not yet ruled on the number of barrelsspilled and no penalty has yet been determined. The DistrictCourt will hold additional proceedings, which are currentlyscheduled to begin in January 2015, to consider the applicationof statutory penalty factors in assessing a per-barrel CleanWater Act penalty," it said.
It added that the Clean Water Act requires the DistrictCourt to consider a number of factors in determining anappropriate penalty. The statutory maximum penalty is $1,100 perbarrel where the court finds simple negligence and $4,300 perbarrel where the court finds gross negligence or willfulmisconduct. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov,; Editing by Kate Holton)
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