Oil Spill: BP must pay $ 20 billion – WirtschaftsWoche

Six years is the devastating explosion on the “Deepwater Horizon” now back. BP does the pollution estimated 20 billion dollars.

The oil company BP has $ 20 billion pollution on the Gulf Coast by the disaster after the final judicial approval estimated to its oil rig “Deepwater Horizon” pay. This final statement on the settlement amounting to the equivalent of nearly 17.55 billion euros published Federal Judge Carl Barbier on Monday. In order for a years of litigation concerning the consequences of the explosion of 20 April 2010 was settled at the eleven workers were killed.

At that time, poured 473 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The announced in July compared between the company and several US states including fines, costs of environmental restoration and compensation for economic disadvantages. The money will be disbursed over a period of 16 years. The affected states include Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

It is the largest compared to an environmental matter and the largest civil settlement with a single entity. 2012 BP achieved a similar agreement with private lawyers from companies and residents, who had argued that the oil spill had cost them money. The deal led to a lengthy court battle over a result of payments to businesses. Many of the allegations are still not resolved.

What you need to know about the price of oil

• unit

  Since oil was originally packed in barrels – barrel in English -, this unit is used in the industry today. A barrel is 159 liters.

• price slide

  Since the beginning of the steep decline in mid-2014, the price has more than gedrittelt. At that time, the cost of a barrel depending on the variety, more than 100 dollars, today there are less than 30 dollars. As low oil was last 2003. Background is a tough competition between the traditional oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and new competitors, particularly in North America, the crude solve the complex Fracking Method shale. Observers expect that the oil producers want to flush the unloved competition with high flow rates and dumped out of the market from the Gulf region.

• oils

  crude oil is not the same crude oil. There are a number of different varieties – depending on the region. Alone the financial information service Bloomberg lists more than 100 pieces, but which have only a few very important. As a guide, the financial market is the US crude West Texas Intermediate (WTI). Another important species is the North Sea oil Brent.

• quality differences

  the types of oil there are serious differences in quality, which also leads to significant price differentials. So the US refiners Flint Hills offered recently only $ 1.50 per barrel of North Dakota Variety Sour. For high-sulfur crude oil could be difficult to process in the refinery.

• futures contracts

  For US oil and Brent oil prices on the match of supply and demand are formed. But even these varieties can have a variety of different prices, what does it matter that they are traded in so-called futures contracts. The buyer acquires this oil with different delivery dates. The most traded and therefore most important for investors Futures contract runs for a month.

• OPEC oil price

  the oils of the oil cartel OPEC (OPEC) are to the global economy of high importance. From the OPEC headquarters in Vienna the so-called OPEC basket price is calculated once a day. For this report all Member States of the oil cartel – including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Nigeria – their respective oil prices, then the so-called basket price of all 13 OPEC varieties is calculated. This average price is, however, always published with a day’s delay, and therefore does not reflect the latest development.

BP has estimated that its costs, including the initial cleaning work and the various comparisons and sentences to more than 53 billion dollars (EUR 46.5 billion) will amount. In an e-mail Group spokesman Geoff Morrell said on Monday, BP is satisfied that the settlement reached in July had been finalized.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards explained that the decision paves the way of the state in order to obtain important means of restoring the coast. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange praised the agreement as well. According to David Uhlmann, a law professor at the University of Michigan, who formerly headed the department for environmental violations in the US Department of Justice, said, finishing the sentence of Barbier “a long, sad chapter in American environmental history”.