Driller Transocean has agreed to pay $1.4 billion in fines and penalties and to plead guilty to one count of violating the Clean Water Act in connection with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the US Department of Justice said Thursday.
Transocean said it will pay the fines over five years. The settlement clears the Switzerland-based company of all future criminal and civil charges stemming from the spill, which happened while the company's Deepwater Horizon rig was working on BP's Macondo well site.
The company could still be liable for additional payments to help repair damage done to natural resources along the US Gulf Coast.
"Transocean's rig crew accepted the direction of BP well site leaders to proceed in the face of clear danger signs -- at a tragic cost to many of them," Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general for DOJ's Criminal Division said in a statement.
"Transocean's agreement to plead guilty to a federal crime, and to pay a total of $1.4 billion in criminal and civil penalties, appropriately reflects its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster," Breuer said.
As part of the settlement agreement, which must still be approved by a federal court, Transocean "has admitted that members of its crew onboard the Deepwater Horizon, acting at the direction of BP's 'Well Site Leaders' or 'company men,' were negligent in failing fully to investigate clear indications that the Macondo well was not secure and that oil and gas were flowing into the well," a DOJ statement said.
The company said it will pay its fines over a five-year period out of $1.5 billion it had set aside for any potential settlement.
"These important agreements, which the company believes to be in the best interest of its shareholders and employees, remove much of the uncertainty associated with the accident," the company said in a statement. "This is a positive step forward, but it is also a time to reflect on the 11 men who lost their lives aboard the Deepwater Horizon."
Shares of Transocean rose $3.31, or 7.16% to $49.55 in afternoon trading after the deal was announced.
