BP judge urged to impose $11.7bn fine for spill

BP’s exploration unit should be fined at least $11.7bn (€10.1bn) for its role in causing the largest offshore oil spill in US history, a government lawyer told the judge who will determine the penalty.

“The penalty is going to have to be high enough for companies of their size to even notice it, but not high enough to be ruinous to their operations,” lawyer Steven O’Rourke told US District Judge Carl Barbier in his opening statement.

“It has to be high enough so massive companies like Anadarko and BP will be deterred.”

Barbier is conducting a three-week trial without a jury to consider Clean Water Act fines against BP. BP is facing a maximum potential fine of $13.7bn. BP says it does not deserve massive fines because of its efforts responding to the spill and minimising the impact. BP’s exploration unit from the day of the spill “immediately committed resources to capturing the oil, burning the oil, skimming the oil,” lawyer Mike Brocktold Barbier.

“Before we even knew that the well was flowing, BP was marshalling resources to prepare for the worst,”he said. “It was good work that the coast guard and BP did together and it significantly changed the outcome to the environment.”

The blowout of the well off the coast of Louisiana in April 2010 killed 11 people aboard the rig and spewed oil for almost three months into waters that touch the shores of five states.

The proceedingsare the third phase of US trials over the incident. In the first phase, Barbier determined BP was grossly negligent before the well blowout, allowing for potential pollution fines to be almost quadrupled.

The second phase ended with last week’s decision that the US overestimated the size of the spill, reducing the possible fine. The judge also gave BP credit for capturing oil as it spewed from the sea floor.