BP (LON:BP) has agreed to a US$20bn settlement with the US government over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The deal, the largest legal settlement with one entity in American history, has been signed off by the US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Lynch, in a statement, said that the oil spill from the Macondo deep water well had inflicted unprecedented harm on the economy, the environment and the population of the Gulf region.
“Taken as a whole, this resolution is a strong and fitting response,” she added. “BP is receiving the punishment it deserves, while also providing critical compensation for the injuries it caused to the environment and the economy of the Gulf region.
“The steep penalty should inspire BP and its peers to take every measure necessary to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again.”
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