Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: Transocean to Pay $1 Billion in Civil Charges

Last week I wrote about Transocean’s plea of guilty in regards to criminal charges levied against them for their involvement in the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the subsequent $400 million penalty that they were given.

They have now had their plea of guilty to civil charges also accepted by a US District judge, and been told to pay $1 billion; the second largest penalty ever awarded in the US for criminal charges in relation to the Clean Water Act.

In total Transocean will have paid $1.4 billion for its part in the disaster, the majority of which will go to environmental restoration projects, and spill prevention research and training.

Related article: Is Deepwater Horizon the New Ecuador?

Attorney General Eric Holder stated that, “Transocean’s guilty plea and sentencing are the latest steps in the department’s ongoing efforts to seek justice on behalf of the victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Most of the $400-million criminal recovery -- one of the largest for an environmental crime in U.S. history -- will go toward protecting, restoring and rebuilding the Gulf Coast region.”

So far BP has had to pay over $24 billion on various settlements, and is still battling the Department of Justice over how many more billions it must pay, and still contends that the spill was in part the fault of the two BP contractors: Transocean and Halliburton.

By. Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com