As reported in the New York Times, an $18.7 billion settlement was announced last Thursday to address all federal, state and local claims against BP arising from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling blowout and subsequent oil spill. If approved by the federal judge presiding over the litigation, it would be the largest environmental settlement and the largest civil settlement with a single entity in the nation’s history. BP had already agreed to pay $4 billion in criminal fines. Claims from shareholders or individuals are not affected.

The April 2010 explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 and injured 16 drilling crew members and resulted in a spill of millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

See NY Times – BP Oil Spill Settlement