Judge: BP, Anadarko, Transocean May Be Liable for Oil Pollution Claims

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BP Plc and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. are liable and Transocean Ltd. may be liable for civil damages under federal pollution laws over the catastrophic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a U.S. judge ruled.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans lets the government pursue potentially tens of billions of dollars in civil penalties. Barbier said BP and Anadarko are liable under the Clean Water Act for oil discharged beneath the water surface because they owned a respective 65 percent and 25 percent of the blown Macondo well.

BP and Anadarko are also liable under the Oil Pollution Act for oil removal costs and damages. The judge said their liability under both laws is “joint and several,” meaning that each could be responsible for the entire amount owed.

“Anadarko and BP were the ones directly engaged in the enterprise which caused the spill,” Barbier wrote.

“If Congress envisioned that the owner of the offshore facility would have to respond to an oil spill such as this one, then it is logical that they would also be the party upon whom the civil penalty is imposed,” he added.

Barbier also said Transocean, whose Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded, may be liable under the Clean Water Act as an “operator” of an offshore facility, but that there were “disputed facts” as to whether it met this definition.

He also said Transocean may be liable under the Oil Pollution Act for oil removal costs. Barbier declined to rule that BP and Anadarko could face unlimited liability under the Oil Pollution Act, as the government had requested.

The April 20, 2010, rig explosion caused 11 deaths, and led to the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

BP is based in London; Anadarko in The Woodlands, Texas; and Transocean in Vernier, Switzerland.