BP warns of rising costs from spill settlement

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - BP is warning investors that the price tag will be "significantly higher" than it initially estimated for its multibillion-dollar settlement with businesses and residents who claim the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico cost them money.

The London-based oil giant estimated last year that it would spend roughly $7.8 billion to resolve tens of thousands of claims covered by the settlement agreement. But in a regulatory filing this week, BP PLC said businesses' claims have been paid at much higher average amounts than it had anticipated.

The company also said it can't reliably estimate how much it will pay for unresolved business claims following a ruling Tuesday by the federal judge supervising the uncapped settlement. U.S District Judge Carl Barbier rejected BP's interpretation of certain settlement provisions.

Barbier upheld claims administrator Patrick Juneau's interpretation of settlement terms that govern how businesses' pre- and post-spill revenue and expenses - and the time periods for those dollar amounts - are used to calculate their awards.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130308/DA4T2BAG2.html

[ashling]

1. ! am so heartbroken for them - NOT!

[TDale313]

2. Fuck. Them. n/t

[lumpy]

3. So BP will expect consumers to help pay for BPs blooper.

n

[olddad56]

4. The costs to BP pale in comparison to the cost to our environment.

The gulf will never be the same. I'm waiting for the oil companies to buy themselves enough politicians who will just declare the gulf dead and invite the oil companies to drill away because there is nothing left to lose.

may never happen, but I can imagine a scenario such as that, you can the oil companies have already had that same thought.

[AllyCat]

5. Fine (pun intended). Go away after you pay up and clean up you thugs.

[primavera]

6. Oh please

For a company worth a quarter of a trillion (that's "trillion" with a "t&quot , this is pocket change for them. And they're already getting off waaaaay too lightly as is. The only ones who are able to bring claims against them are businesses who lost measurable cash revenue as a direct result of the spill. For the god only knows how many species that were wiped out, the loss of one of the world's richest ecosystems, or the adverse impact upon the quality of life of millions of Gulf Coast residents who can no longer walk on their beaches without wearing hazmat suits or enjoy local seafood that doesn't look like something out of a circus freak show, BP doesn't have to pay so much as one thin dime. Admittedly, there is no sum of money that could ever even come close to compensating the world for the harm BP and their pet politicians have done, but I'm not about to feel sorry for the bastards because they have to pay out an amount they practically spend on lunch everyday in pitifully inadequate reparations.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. Good! Hope the shareholders sue the hell out of them.

Luckily, I have local options to buying gas at the BP station.

[cstanleytech]

8. To bad the government cannot force them to pay it all off purely from the profits.

All they are going to really do is just screw us over more by charging more and or producing less oil in order to raise the value of the oil they are selling.

[JDPriestly]

10. This accident is part of the cost of drilling in deep water

for oil. Oil is not as cheap as you would think if you just looked at the cost as the price tag at the gas station. Oil is very expensive when you think about the damage it causes to your environment.

[Zoeisright]

12. And they should assume the responsibility for that cost.

And NOT pass it on to anyone else.

[JDPriestly]

17. No. The cost of oil spills is part of the cost of USING

petroleum, part of the cost when WE drive gasoline-engine cars or burn oil for heating. Of course, the company passes the costs on.

That is how you get people to use alternative energy, by demonstrating to them in their pocketbooks how really expensive fossil fuels are, how increasingly expensive they will become.

[Brigid]

9. Is this the part where we're supposed to feel sorry for them?

[Zoeisright]

11. Cut your fucking executive salaries, you asshole leeches.

GOD, I hate big business and especially those fuckers big oil.

[Katashi_itto]

13. Np, Revoke their corporate charter. Lets deal with someone else.

Rule that they are unable to do business in the U.S.

[union_maid]

14. They should so not be allowed to do this

A company fucks up, the company, including shareholders, should take the hit, not consumers. Amirite? Otherwise, they'll never learn.

[freedom fighter jh]

15. Seems this *is* about the company taking the hit.

They say BP is warning *investors* about the cost.

(At first I misread it to mean the general public, not investors. That's easy to do.)

Agree: it's the company, meaning investors, that should pay.

[sendero]

16. I was astounded..

.... when BP decided to go back to court. They are really gambling here, they could easily wind up paying a lot more than if they had just settled.

These folks are born gamblers, they lost with the Horizon and they are going for 0 for 2.

[Angry Dragon]

18. Tony Hayward was in charge .......make him pay

[sakabatou]

19. Lemme get my angstrom sized violin

[booley]

20. hey here's an idea

Don't cheat on safety to save a few shekels thinking the consequences will never catch up to you.

Who knows, it might save you some money down the road