o2 December 2015, News Wires – Anadarko Petroleum is mulling whether or not to appeal a ruling in a US court that has seen it fined over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico.
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o2 December 2015, News Wires – Anadarko Petroleum is mulling whether or not to appeal a ruling in a US court that has seen it fined over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout and oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico.
The US independent was ordered to pay $159.5 million in a ruling under the Clean Water Act made by Judge Carl Barbier in the District Court in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Although New York-listed Anadarko said it was pleased that the fine was “far less” than the amount sought by the government – between $1 billion and $3.51 billion – it is nonetheless “carefully considering (its) appellate options”.
Although they respect the decision, Anadarko’s management is of the belief that “penalising a non-operator for events beyond its control is inconsistent with the intent of the Clean Water Act”.
“Today’s ruling clearly shows that the Court gave significant weight to its previous findings that as a non-operating investor in the Macondo Well, we had no role in the events that caused the tragic 2010 spill, and bear no fault,” it said.
Anadarko in October 2011 reached a $4 billion deal with well operator BP to settle all of the UK supermajor’s claims against the independent relating to the tragedy.
BP in early July reached a record-setting $18.7 billion agreement with the US federal government and five states over the spill.
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