A federal court in New Orleans (Louisiana, United States) has granted final approval to a US$20bn settlement covering environmental damage and other claims by the five Gulf states and local governments over the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The amount includes the July 2015 agreement reached with BP (US$18.7bn), plus some coastline restoration funds that BP had not counted; the settlement doesn't include the US$4bn that BP agreed to pay earlier to settle criminal charges. The settlement includes US$8.1bn in natural resources damages (including US$1bn BP agreed to pay earlier), US$5.5bn plus interest for Clean Water Act penalties and US$5.9bn to cover state and local government claims. The compensations will be paid out over a 16-year period.
BP is also facing another lawsuit related to the spill in Mexico.
The Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 rig workers and released 3.2 mbl of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.