Sept 10 (Reuters) - Transocean Ltd is in discussions with
the U.S. Justice Department to pay $1.5 billion to resolve civil
and criminal claims from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in
the Gulf of Mexico, the Swiss-based company said on Monday.
Parties have been unable to reach an agreement so far on the
settlement, which could be paid "over a period of years,"
Transocean, owner of the world's largest offshore drilling
fleet, said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission.
Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and BP
Plc was the operator of the Macondo well, which ruptured on
April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and unleashing the worst-ever
U.S. offshore oil spill. London-based BP is also in talks with
the Justice Department to resolve criminal and civil claims.
Transocean has reserved $2 billion to cover charges arising
from a potential settlement, and said it does not expect any
incremental charges to earnings. A Transocean spokesman had no
immediate comment on the filing, and a Justice Department
spokesman declined to comment.
Unresolved issues include whether a settlement would include
environmental damages under the Natural Resource Damage
Assessment process, the timing of payments and the factual basis
of a plea, Transocean said in its filing.
According to the Justice Department, both BP and Transocean
made errors that led to the explosion and sinking of the
Deepwater Horizon rig and rupturing of the Macondo well, which
spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over
87 straight days.
Transocean has also negotiated with both BP and private
plaintiffs to reach a separate settlement, but no discussions on
those issues have taken place since February 2012, the filing
said. Settlements proposed by BP and the plaintiffs group were
"far in excess" of the settlement amount under consideration
with the Justice Department, it said.
Transocean faces liability from over 100,000 individuals and
business owners, represented by the plaintiffs steering
committee, who are claiming economic and medical damages from
the spill.
BP in March reached an estimated $7.8 billion deal to
resolve its liability with the plaintiffs, a wide-ranging group
that represents condominium owners, fishermen, hoteliers,
restaurant owners and others who say their livelihood was
damaged by the spill.
(Additional reporting by David Ingram and Braden Reddall)
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