BP Gulf oil spill trial 'delayed'

26 February 2012 Last updated at 11:47 ET

BP has already paid out $7.5bn in compensation over the spill

BP is due in court in New Orleans on Monday, before a judge who will decide who is to blame, and to what extent, for the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.

In a case that may last two years, BP could be fined $17.6bn (£11.1bn) if the judge rules the firm caused water pollution through gross negligence.

The UK firm is expected to blame its main contactor, Halliburton, which is a fellow defendant.

BP has so far paid out $7.5bn in clean-up costs and compensation.

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, claiming the lives of 11 workers, and releasing more than four million barrels of crude oil from BP's Macondo well.

US President Barack Obama called the spill "the worst environmental disaster the nation has ever faced".

It took 85 days to permanently stop the release of crude oil.

Fellow contractor Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig, is also a defendant in the case.

27 Feb, 2012

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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/business-17171396
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