Two former BP employees were charged Wednesday with manslaughter in the 2010 Gulf spill disaster, while BP itself was blocked from bidding for U.S. government contracts until it shows it no longer lacks "business integrity". BP responded by saying it was working with the Obama administration to do just that. 

Gerald Herbert / AP

Robert Kaluza, a BP well site leader from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, talks with his attorneys outside court on Wednesday in New Orleans, La.

In New Orleans, a BP rig supervisor said he is innocent of manslaughter in the deaths of 11 workers in the 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig that started the spill disaster.

"I think about the tragedy of the Deepwater Horizon every day," Robert Kaluza told reporters just before his arraignment. "But I did not cause this tragedy. I am innocent and I put my trust, reputation and future in the hands of the judge and the jury."

Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, both BP well site leaders, were indicted earlier this month on manslaughter charges. The federal indictment accuses them of disregarding abnormal high-pressure readings that should have been clear indications of trouble just before the explosion.

Kaluza's attorney, Shaun Clarke, said the men are scapegoats.

"Bob and Don did their jobs," Clarke said. "They did them correctly and they did them in accordance with their training."

BP announced earlier this month that it will plead guilty to manslaughter, obstruction of Congress and other charges and pay a record $4.5 billion in penalties to resolve a Justice Department criminal probe.

Attorneys for BP and the Justice Department are scheduled to meet Dec. 11 with a federal judge to discuss a date for BP pleading guilty.

Matthew Hinton / AP

Donald Vidrine arrives at court Wednesday in New Orleans.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig, owned by Transocean Ltd. but operated on behalf of BP, was drilling in the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast on April 20, 2010, when it was rocked by an explosion.

The bodies of 11 workers were never recovered.

Former BP executive David Rainey was charged separately Wednesday with concealing information from Congress about the amount of oil that was leaking from the well. Millions of gallons of crude oil spewed from BP's well for months.

Also Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency banned BP from new federal contracts over its "lack of business integrity".

BP and its affiliates must demonstrate they can meet federal business standards, the EPA said. The suspension is "standard practice" and BP's existing U.S. government contracts are not affected, it said. 

In a statement, BP said it has been in "regular dialogue" with the EPA, and that the agency has informed BP that it is preparing an agreement that "would effectively resolve and lift this temporary suspension." The EPA has notified BP that the draft agreement will be available soon, BP said.

The U.S. government could use the suspension as leverage to pressure BP to settle civil charges, which could top $20 billion if BP is found to be grossly negligent for the spill under the U.S. Clean Water Act. 

The Justice Department says it intends to prove in a court case set to get underway in February that BP was grossly negligent, a claim the company has adamantly refuted.

BP and the U.S. government likely worked out a deal on the timing of the suspension before BP agreed to sign off on the Nov. 15 criminal plea deal, said Samuel Buell, a Duke University Law School professor and former federal prosecutor. 

"It's just inconceivable to me that BP's lawyers, that their board of directors would have entered into that agreement last week without the issue of a suspension or debarment having been addressed," Buell said.

One long-time critic of BP applauded the decision. 

"After pleading guilty to such reckless behavior that killed men and constituted a crime against the environment, suspending BP's access to contracts with our government is the right thing to do," U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said in a statement.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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A worker uses a suction hose to remove oil washed ashore from the Deepwater Horizon spill in Belle Terre, La., on June 9, 2010.

LONDON -- Hopes that BP can settle early out of court on liability for its 2010 U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil spill looked forlorn on Wednesday after U.S. prosecutors laid out a legal case for gross negligence on which tens of billions of dollars hang.

In the two years that have passed since the spewing Macondo deep-water well was capped, the Department of Justice has made it clear BP may have a gross negligence case to answer -- implying a potential $21 billion fine on top of other payments,  some already made, others yet to be determined.

The British oil company has been vehement in denying such liability for the United States' worst offshore environmental disaster, which killed 11 people and poured crude into the sea for months. It repeated that position after the DoJ filing on Tuesday.

Nevertheless, the parties have been in talks about a multi-billion-dollar settlement that could cover outstanding liabilities, and two months ago the Financial Times raised expectations there was a deal in the air by reporting that BP was hoping to pay $15 billion to put the case behind it, while the DoJ was holding out for $25 billion.

The window of opportunity for a deal before the November presidential election and ahead of a trial scheduled to start in January has narrowed since then, and now investors see the weight of uncertainty on the British oil company's share price sticking around for a long time to come.

"The market was hoping that some sort agreement would be reached, either before the presidential elections or ahead of the trial," said Ivor Pether, a fund manager at Royal London Asset Management.

"We don't know when or whether they will reach agreement, but the aggressive language in today's DOJ statement might well reduce the chances of a swift settlement."

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BP shares were down 4 percent on Wednesday morning after 39 pages of DoJ court papers homed in on a key well pressure test, saying the way it had been "so stunningly, blindingly botched in so many ways, by so many people, demonstrates gross negligence."

Uncertainty over whether BP can continue to operate in Russia, and whether it can even exit its business there at a decent price, have combined with the oil spill wrangle to put BP's share valuation based on earnings at a discount to the sector in Europe, even though it is the second largest next to Royal Dutch/Shell .

"While these (DoJ) accusations are not entirely new or surprising, they appear to be a firming of the DoJ language," said Credit Suisse analyst Kim Fustier in a note.

"This suggests to us that a settlement acceptable to BP is not imminent, and lowers BP's chances of settling in the low end of the $15 (billion)-$25 billion range. Hence, if it cannot get to a satisfactory agreement we think it might be best for BP to continue to litigate, which would maintain the Macondo overhang for longer than we'd hoped. ... We believe a settlement or $20 billion or less would be a positive."

Breakup talk revived
Pressure for closure on the spill and in Russia is something chief executive Bob Dudley has become used to since he took over from Tony Hayward in the aftermath of the spill.

And on Wednesday, one analyst revived suggestions that the company should be broken up to release underlying value on the business.

"We reiterate that the best outcome for long-suffering BP shareholders, and indeed the only credible route to unlock our increased SoTP (sum-of-the-parts) value … is a demerger of remaining assets starting with the U.S.," said Investec analyst Stuart Joyner in a note.

Joyner said that valuation would be more than 68 percent higher than BP's current share price, and suggests there could be $90 billion of hidden value in a stock valued at around $132 billion. Other analysts' calculations based on pre-Macondo comparisons with rival Shell have put total lost value at between $60 billion and $70 billion.

"BP died when it failed to cap the Macondo spill in the first few days," said Joyner. "The CEO did a good job of saving BP from forced liquidation, but we do not believe he can revert to its pre-Macondo strategy." 

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