- Any fine above $2B against BP (BP -0.5%) for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill would be "extraordinary and severe," double the highest-ever U.S. water pollution fine and potentially crippling its U.S. oil business, BP said in court documents filed late Friday that marked its final legal argument before a federal judge is clear to render environmental fines as high as $13.7B for the spill.
- BP says a fine above $2B would be 58x greater than any civil Clean Water Act fine before Deepwater Horizon, and that it should not have to pay a high penalty because it has already spent $27.5B to clean up the spill and compensate claimants along the Gulf; it also wants credit for its $1.25B criminal penalty.
- U.S. government prosecutors blasted BP’s argument that a high penalty would render the U.S. unit insolvent, arguing that U.S. oil unit BPXP was insolvent in 2011-12 with no evidence that the insolvency changed or jeopardized BPXP’s operations in any way, and that the BP parent company alone makes investment decisions for the group.