Contractor will pay BP $75 million to settle Gulf oil spill claims
Contractor Weatherford International will pay $75 million to BP to settle “any claims that may have arisen between the companies relating to the Deepwater Horizon incident and oil spill.”
Weatherford, a Swiss-based oilfield service company, provided products and services to BP for the Macondo oil well. The company said its settlement is not an admission of liability by any party.
Under the settlement, BP will indemnify Weatherford for current and future compensatory claims resulting from the incident and the impacts from that event. Under the agreement, BP will indemnify Weatherford for environmental, pollution, personal, business, property and economic loss claims.
The entire cost of the settlement is being funded by insurance policies that Weatherford had in place at the time of the incident, the company said. Weatherford is providing $75 million to BP to be used for the Gulf Coast recovery fund for businesses, residents and others claiming injury or damage from the spill.
In a statement, Weatherford said that its liability insurance policies could protect it further, if needed.
“Further, Weatherford believes that any types of liability not included in BP’s indemnification obligation, if assessed against Weatherford, will also be covered under its liability insurance policies. These include any damages assessed against Weatherford related to non-BP employees injured on the Deepwater Horizon rig and any non-compensatory damages that might be assessed against Weatherford. BP’s indemnification obligation also does not include civil or criminal fines and penalties and attorneys’ fees,” the statement says.
On April 20, 2010, an explosion of the Deepwater Horizon killed 11 men and injured 17 others. Deepwater Horizon was drilling on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. For three months, oil spilled out of the damaged well and into the Gulf of Mexico.
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