- As the penalty phase starts today in BP's (BP -0.6%) trial over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a U.S. prosecutor says in opening statements that the company is overstating how well it handled the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and that the company should not get much of a break on $13.7B in potential fines for merely complying with the law..
- According to court papers, BP will argue its $42B in liabilities including $14B spent on cleanup efforts should prompt the judge to reduce environmental penalties, and that falling oil prices change the equation as its U.S. oil production unit has operated in the red since the spill and will have less capacity to weather a big fine.
- Anadarko Petroleum (APC -1.5%), which faces its own penalty of as much as $3.5B because it owned 25% of the oil well drilled by the Gulf rig, also will put up a fight as APC's lawyers say the company was "a faultless, non-operating investor" in the Deepwater Horizon venture.