LONDON/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ruledon Tuesday that BP Plc recovered 810,000 barrels of oilfrom its 2010 spill site and that this amount should be excludedfrom certain penalties it may face, cutting its maximum fine byas much as $3.5 billion.
Just days before he presides over a spill-related civiltrial due to start on Feb. 25 in New Orleans, U.S. DistrictJudge Carl Barbier deemed those barrels as 'collected' duringthe spill. BP had sought this reduction in the penalty-relevanttotal more than a month ago.
"The 'Collected Oil' flowed from the subsurface reservoir,through the well, through the blow-out preventer, and never cameinto contact with any ambient sea water, and was not released tothe environment in any way," the ruling said.
Earlier, the British oil company said the U.S. Department ofJustice backed its assertion that the oil recovered directlyfrom the leaking Macondo well should not count when it comes tofines that could be levied under the U.S. Clean Water Act.
"Under the Clean Water Act, civil penalties are assessedonly on oil that has actually entered the environment andpotentially caused harm," BP said in a statement on Tuesday.
BP also repeated that the total 4.9 million spilt barrelsestimate made by the U.S. government in its claim against BP, including barrels recovered, was too high by 20 percent.
The maximum fine payable under the act is $4,300 per barrel,so a calculation based on 4.9 million barrels spilt would haveforced BP to pay as much as $21 billion under the Clean WaterAct, on top of any other fines and penalties, if BP was foundguilty of "gross negligence."
Without the gross negligence finding, the fine could be upto $1,100 per barrel - or $5.4 billion - so that potential finewas cut by nearly $900 million with the ruling on Tuesday.
Separately, Barbier signed on Tuesday a $1 billion civilsettlement between the U.S. government and Transocean related tothe spill, which had been struck last month. Transocean'sDeepwater Horizon rig was destroyed in the blowout.
The overall civil case under Barbier is In re: Oil Spill bythe Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April20, 2010, No. 10-md-02179, in the U.S. District Court, EasternDistrict of Louisiana.
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