(Fixes date in dateline)
July 2 (Reuters) - BP Plc reached a $18.7billion settlement to end five years of litigation following the2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It is the largest settlement witha single entity in U.S. history, the U.S. Department of Justicesaid.
The following is a timeline of key events:
* April 20, 2010, RIG EXPLODES: An explosion on theDeepwater Horizon oil rig at the Macondo exploration well kills11 workers and releases millions of barrels of crude oil intothe Gulf of Mexico. The well is capped in mid-July. BPultimately sets aside $42 billion to pay for cleanup costs,damages and penalties.
* November 2012, CRIMINAL CASE SETTLED: BP agrees to pay$4.5 billion in fines and other penalties and pleads guilty to14 criminal charges. The U.S. government bans BP from newfederal contracts, imperiling the company's role as a top U.S.offshore oil producer and No. 1 military fuel supplier.Separately, the U.S. Department of Justice files criminalcharges against three BP employees in connection with theaccident.
* December 2012, CLASS ACTION SETTLED: U.S. District JudgeCarl Barbier gives final approval to BP's settlement withindividuals and businesses claiming to have lost money andproperty because of the spill. BP initially estimates it willpay $7.8 billion to settle more than 100,000 claims, but thedollar amount is not capped. The company later says the payoutmay grow substantially, in part because of payouts to manyclaimants who suffered no harm, and files numerous legalchallenges to the agreement.
* February 2013, CIVIL TRIAL BEGINS: Officials from thefederal government and several U.S. states begin facing BP incourt at a three-phase civil trial over how blame should beapportioned between BP, Transocean Ltd, which owned thedrilling rig, and Halliburton Co, which did cement work.Government lawyers urge Barbier to find BP grossly negligent,which could roughly quadruple the amount of fines under the U.S.Clean Water Act.
* Sept. 30, 2013, SECOND PHASE OF TRIAL BEGINS: The secondphase begins to determine how much oil was spilled.
* Sept. 4, 2014, JUDGE FINDS BP BEARS MOST OF THE BLAME:Barbier finds BP "grossly negligent" for its role in the oilspill. He assigns 67 percent of the fault to BP, 30 percent toTransocean and 3 percent to Halliburton. BP pledges to appeal.
* Jan. 15, 2015, SIZE RULING: Barbier determines that 3.19million barrels of oil spilled. The amount would be used tocalculate damages.
* Feb. 24, 2015, SIZE APPEAL: BP appeals judge's ruling onsize of the oil spill.
* July 2, 2015, SETTLEMENT REACHED: BP agreed to pay about$18.7 billion in damages for water pollution caused by thespill, settling claims with the U.S. government and Louisiana,Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Florida.
(Compiled by David Gregorio; Editing by Howard Goller andJeffrey Benkoe)
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