BP reaches Deepwater Horizon settlement with MOEX

May 20, 2011 - PRLog -- One of the owners of the oil well that leaked millions of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico last year has agreed to contribute to BP's compensation fund.

MOEX Offshore has agreed to pay $1.065bn (£657m) to BP to settle all claims between the companies relating to the Deepwater Horizon rig accident.

MOEX, a unit of Japanese trading house Mitsui, owned 10% of the Macondo well.

BP has said it will put the money into the $20bn trust it established to meet claims relating to the oil spill.

The settlement excludes fines, penalties or punitive damages that may be applied in future.

"MOEX is the first company to join BP in helping to meet our shared responsibilities in the Gulf," BP chief executive Bob Dudley said in a statement.

"We call on the other parties involved in the Macondo well to follow the lead of the MOEX and Mitsui parties."

The explosion in April 2010 aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 people and caused one of the worst oil spills in history.

The Macondo well, about a mile underneath the rig, was finally sealed in September.

The final report of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling found that several companies had been at fault, although BP had overall responsibility.

BP is pursuing some of the other companies involved to contribute to its compensation fund.

In its statement, it named Transocean, which owned and operated the rig, Anadarko, which owned 25% of the project and Halliburton, "which designed and pumped the unstable cement that the Prudential Commission found was a key cause of the accident".

Source:  BBC News Online
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