Transocean set to plead guilty to misdemeanor in spill case

It’s Transocean’s turn in the penalty box. The Houston Chroncile reports that a lawyer for the Swiss drilling contractor is expected to enter a guilty plea on the company’s behalf Thursday in a New Orleans federal courtroom to a single misdemeanor charge of violating the Clean Water Act through negligent discharge of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Transocean has agreed to pay a $400 million criminal fine and serve five years of probation. The decision whether to approve the deal rests with U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo. The charge stems from a U.S. government criminal investigation of the 2010 Gulf oil spill that also has ensnared BP and four of its current and former employees. The probe continues nearly three years later. Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded and sank about 50 miles off Louisiana after a well a mile beneath the sea blew out. Eleven rig workers, including nine Transocean employees, were killed. The hearing is expected to be relatively quick compared to BP’s plea hearing two weeks ago, when the British oil giant admitted to 14 criminal charges, including manslaughter, and the court heard from a number of victims. Among other penalties, BP was ordered to pay a record $4 billion in criminal penalties. More details on the Transocean hearing can be found in the full story here.