BP plc (NYSE:BP) To Shell Out Record Fine For The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Incident

BP plc (ADR)(NYSE:BP) is supposed to pay a record US criminal penalty amount and plead guilty of its misconduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. The verdict resulted through a plea deal agreed upon with the Department of justice that may be declared on Thursday, as per sources having knowledge with the matter.

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Three sources have talked to Reuters, stating that BP would implore guilty in lieu of a waiver of prosecution in future on the accusations.

BP has confirmed that discussions were in an advance stage with the Securities & Exchange Commission and Department of Justice.

The discussions involved proposed resolutions of all US Federal government criminal and SEC claims against BP related to the Deepwater Horizon incident. The sources did not mention about any final agreements.

The discussions also did not reveal anything on federal civil claims.

The oil giant based in London, BP has been embroiled in negotiations since months with the US governments and states of Gulf Coast to resolve billions of dollars of impending criminal and civil liability claims resulting from 20^th April, 2010.

The sources have not yet revealed the amount of BP’s payment, however, one of them said that it would be the largest criminal punishment in the history of the US. Till date, the record has been maintained by Pfizer Inc that had paid an amount of $1.3 billion in 2009 for a marketing scam incident with Bextra pain medicine.

The agreement could resolve an important share of the liability that BP is confronted with after the explosion took lives of 11 employees and fouled the shorelines of 4 Gulf Coast states in the worst offshore spill in the history of the US.

The fine amount would further outstrip BP’s last major settlements with the DoJ in the year 2007, when it had paid $373 million to resolve three different investigations of a fatal 2005 Texas refinery explosion.