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U.S. Coast Guard via Reuters
Fire boats battle the blazing remnants of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon off Louisiana on April 21, 2010.
WASHINGTON - Transocean Ltd has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle U.S. government charges arising from BP Plc's massive 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The settlement unveiled by the Department of Justice includes $1 billion in civil penalties and $400 million in criminal penalties. The company had set aside a total of $1.95 billion in potential losses related to the spill, including $1.5 billion for its anticipated settlement with the DoJ.
Shares of Transocean were up 7 percent at $49.50 on midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 0.1 percent.
"The bottom line to me is they now can put away the big black cloud that has been hanging over them," said Phil Weiss, an oil analyst at Argus. "I take this as a positive, even if the number is a little higher than I expected."
Switzerland-based Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon rig that was drilling a mile-deep well when a surge of methane gas sparked an explosion on April 20, 2010. The explosion killed 11 men and led to one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history.
"This resolution of criminal allegations and civil claims against Transocean brings us one significant step closer to justice for the human, environmental and economic devastation wrought by the Deepwater Horizon disaster," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
BP to pay $4.5 billion, plead guilty to manslaughter in Gulf of Mexico oil spill
BP and Transocean had "multiple safety management system deficiencies that contributed to the Macondo incident," and neither had adequate safety rules, according to a July 2012 report from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
Transocean and BP disagreed on who was in charge of interpreting what is known as a negative pressure test, which could have alerted workers to the well's instability.
BP in November agreed to a settlement with the U.S. government worth $4.5 billion, including the largest criminal fine ever at $1.256 billion. The London-based oil company also agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of Congress, a felony.
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Leave a Comment:
This is the 21st century right? Why does the world run on goo sucked out the ground again?
Rather than fining them, why didn't the gov't seize them, sell them off, and pay down our nat'l debt? Drastic events call for drastic measures and punishments! ;-)
Thats OK they will deduct it all from their taxes anyway so we all just flip the bill
we should be asking why they are required/ allowed to drill so far off shore that human hands cannot fix the unforeseen problems that arise
Transocean got off relatively easy on this one. They were the actual operators of the rig, so they had the ultimate responsibility for what went on. The fact that BP took a bigger hit than Transocean has more to do with the relative sizes of the two companies and the desire on the part of the government not to put anyone out of business than it does with the percentage of liability they should have had for what occurred. The government did not want to hit Transocean with a fine the size they levied against BP because that likely would have caused Transocean to file bankruptcy.
For Transocean this settlement was like giving a child a "time out". It's just a matter of time before something like this will happen again.
T Diddy
There ares lots of oil fields in shallower/safer waters off Florida west coast, but it is illegal to drill there.
You aren't allowed to deduct fines for tax purposes.
We should not be satisfied with punishing the corporations with fines. That only hurts the shareholders. We should put the people who made the decisions leading to the deaths of 11 workers in prison for manslaughter and negligence leading to billions of dollars of damage. The corporate big shots who think they rule the world will only change their reckless behavior if they are personally at risk of paying the consequences of their recklessness. They go not give a rat's behind about the shareholders or the company. Tony from BP has his life back and can continue with his yacht races and vacations. The 11 workers on the Macondo well are dead and their families will suffer forever. TransOcean will pay the fine as a cost of doing buisinss and move on. The decision makers at Transocean who cut corners on safety and killed 11 people are still on the job and making more money than ever.
Joe, I agree, but just wait, the pugbags will be on here making noise about how the corporations didn't do anything, it was all Obama's fault, etc etc. Those CEO's and his top henchmen should, from all the corporations involved be in a real prison, not a country club type jail.
Until corporations lose their liberty for criminal actions, as humans do, they should not be considered persons under the law. (the law that corporations use to be declaired 'persons' was written for newly emancipated slaves.)
Where is the equal justice under the law?
Well I'm sure gas will go up an appropriate amount to pay for it.
Wrong. Oil prices are set by the global market. The fine will affect TransOcean's profits, not gas prices. If BP tries to raise prices because of the Macondo blowout, consumers will just buy their gas from Exxon or some other producer. That's the way markets work. If you're tired of paying high gas prices, use less of it.
Think these companies were acting without government over site. Smells like another government inspector pay off.
Jail them all for life, plus the take-over and sale of their businesses is the only way to end this BS excuse of oil greed.
Wrong. taking over and selling the business makes no sense and would cost the shareholders a lot of money. The shardholders include mutual funds holding peoples' 401 (k), pension funds, and investments by individuals who were not part of the decision making process. They should not be punished. The corporate executives who pushed their subordinates to cut corners are the ones who should be thrown in prison and fined. Contrary to what Romney said, corporations are not people. Corporations feel no pain or sense of responsibility. Corporate executives, however, should be held responsible and should be made to feel the pain of their recklessness and irresponsibility.
Joe.......assuming the corporate exectives of both BP and Trans are responsible for the gulf disaster is, I think, incorrect. The blame should be placed further down the line with the people who make the actually day to day decisions that lead to the oil disaster.
And I don't have a problem with fines being levied against the companies involved, I just have a problem with the government getting those monies.
GCCal, that disaster cost the US gov't a lot of money. why should the fines not flow to the gov't. Are you a government hater?
Also, the people who make the day to day decisions are operating under the direction of the executives and it's the excutives who put on the pressure to hurry up and/or save money and/or cut corners. Executives make the big bucks. They are responsible. (Except in the case where a mid-level employee goes rogue.) Are you one of those who worships "job creators"?
Thought I was going to debate someone with a sense of style, but guess I was wrong. So I am not going to try to debate you any longer because a fool will always beat me with his vast experience.
Except for one thing............I was one of the job creators....on a small scale, but one of 'those' nevertheless.
In the corporate world, the form of corruption known as payoffs is totally legal.
mind you that its only legal because the CROOKED politicians VOTE AND LOBBY it legal. BASTARDS
1.4 bil, really. This reminds me of the time I was offered a 5 cent cost of living raise. Keep it and get out of our country forever. What a joke.
$800 MILLION IN ATTY'S FEES and government fees.
Would you be a friend of Bill W's?
Cool, now we have an extra 1.4 billion to pay down on our debt and we won't need to cut senior's SS and Medicare. Maybe I should dream on heh heh
The scum bag lawyers will pocket most of the money.
They ALWAYS get off cheap when @!$%# like this happens!!! It should have been a double digit settlement!!! $1.4 billion!!!??? They make that every month!!!
Amazing........ a corporation has been fined $1.4 billion they accept it and the gov't will be reimbursed for much of its expense and STILL everyone is complaining. 1400 million dollar bills. That is a lot of money. Can we move on now.
Do we have a choice?
would like to know the disposition of the 1.5 seems gov't attorneys are salaried so they shouldn't be geting rich off this deal
It is a MISDEMEANOR plea, not a felony plea. ......plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act.
Anyone think if an individual spilled that amount of oil into a stream or even on a road, they would get a misdemeanor charge, considering the damage done?
What does Transocean think they are? A bank?
No one goes to jail. The fine is pocket change for them. Totally disgusting.
Congress gets the money to spend on Earmarks and Pork Barrell Projects and the people who suffered get What?
Nice going Eric
Drop in the bucket and wouldn't even cover the Fed's bar tab. Millions of barrels of crud oil doesn't just disappear. It will still be washing up on the shores of the Gulf long after the money is squandered.
But of that $1.4 billion fine how much do the people of these states effected get,nothing I bet...The government gets BPs fine and Transoceans and those effected will just get what they get ,not nice in today's world but that's government for yah...And BP writes off all their expenses,loses at the end of the year and Pres.Obama said there's nothing he can do about it because that's the federal tax code ,plain and simple!!No jail time either for the murderers that killed those workers on the oil rig either and because of a 100-year-old maritime law the families of those killed won't get anything,nice ha!!
The "Government" played a huge part in that accident.
Government regulators failed to catch blatant violations.
Government through licensing determins who drills where and our government drove BP to drill in deep hazardous waters rather than the shallower and safer waters off Florida west coast where its illegal to drill.
Government limited/capped BP's liability rather than require BP to insure itself against ALL potential damages This was to encourage smaller companies of limited means to drill in deeper water.
1.4 too 1.5 Billion $ seems too be the going rate too buy off the US federal Government..
If you can pay this you can dam well do what ever you please....