Six years after the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill, oil giant BP has put a final price tag on what the disaster cost the company and it’s a hefty sum: $61.6 billion.
The estimate released by the company on Thursday marks the first time it has put a total cost on the catastrophe, The Associated Press reports. BP says it expects to spend a total of $44 billion after tax deductions are factored in. The new estimate included $5.2 billion in new pre-tax costs.
In 2010, one of the company’s deep-sea wells blew out off the coast of Louisiana, leading to the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. Eleven rig workers were killed in the explosions and millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf for 87 days. BP says the cost estimate included all “remaining material liabilities.”
The company has settled the majority of the claims filed against it by companies, local, state and federal governments and individuals, such as scores of fishermen. Last fall, Louisiana officials finalized a $6.8 billion settlement with BP. That represents 36% of the total $18.7 billion settlement BP reached with the federal government and five Gulf states, which is the largest settlement the government has ever reached with a single business entity.
BP says its new pre-tax $5.2 billion cost estimate covers “all outstanding business and economic loss claims” stemming from litigation filed by individuals and companies.
The Associated Press has the full story.
