Mitsui to pay $1bn to BP Macondo fund

MOEX Offshore 2007, which holds a 10% interest in the Macondo oil well at the centre of last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster, has made peace with BP over the Deepwater Horizon oil rig accident.MOEX and its affiliates, Mitsui Oil Exploration and MOEX USA, have joined BP in accepting the findings by the Presidential Commission that the accident was the result of a number of separate risk factors, oversights and outright mistakes by multiple parties and a number of causes. Like BP, MOEX Offshore has also recognised and acknowledged the conclusions of the United States Coast Guard that, among other things, the safety management systems of both Transocean and its Deepwater Horizon rig had significant deficiencies that rendered them ineffective in preventing the accident. MOEX has concluded that entering into a settlement with BP is in its best interest. The agreement is not an admission of liability by any party regarding the accident.MOEX has agreed to pay BP $1,065m, all of which will immediately be funnelled into the $20bn trust fund the UK oil giant established to meet individual, business and government claims, as well as the cost of the natural resource damages. The parties have also agreed to mutual releases of claims against each other. BP has agreed to indemnify MOEX for compensatory claims arising from the accident. BP's indemnity excludes civil, criminal or administrative fines and penalties, claims for punitive damages, and certain other claims. "This settlement is an important step forward for BP and the Gulf communities," said BP group chief executive Bob Dudley. BP said it is still working on getting Transocean, which owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig; Halliburton, which designed and pumped the unstable cement that the Presidential Commission found was a key cause of the accident; and Anadarko, which owned 25% of the project, to make contributions to the reparations being spearheaded by BP. To date, BP has paid nearly $6 billion in claims."We call on the other parties involved in the Macondo well to follow the lead of the MOEX and Mitsui parties," Dudley said. ---jh