The latest phase of a US trial to decide how much BP should pay in penalties for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has ended.

A trapped piece of drill pipe prevented a fail-safe device from stopping last year's massive BP Gulf oil spill, a US government investigation has found.

The presidential commission investigating the BP Gulf oil spill today challenged claims made in Congress that the oil company and others sacrificed safety to cuts cost.

Most the the oil that spilled from the giant BP gulf leak has gone, the US government said today.