BP (NYSE: BP) said on Tuesday it expected to take a post-tax non-operating charge of around $1.7 billion U.S. in its fourth quarter results as part of the settlement of the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the United States.
BP said the Court Supervised Settlement Program set up in the wake of the disaster was now winding down.
"With the claims facility's work very nearly done, we now have better visibility into the remaining liability," said Brian Gilvary, BP's chief financial officer.
"The charge we are taking as a result is fully manageable within our existing financial framework, especially now that we have the company back into balance at $50 per barrel."
The 2010 explosion at a well in the Gulf of Mexico threatened BP’s existence after 11 people were killed and millions of barrels of oil spilled into the sea. While the latest liabilities will add to the more than $60 billion of penalties the company has already racked up, Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley will see an end in sight to the largest court battles.
The London-based company will record a new $1.7 billion charge in the fourth quarter of 2017 and pay $1 billion of that bill in 2018, it said in a statement Tuesday. The remainder will be distributed over a number of years.
The latest charge will cover payments to business owners in the area, BP said. The company’s spill-related payouts will rise to $3 billion in 2018 from an earlier estimate of $2 billion, while those for 2017 will remain at $5.5 billion.
BP shares gave back $1.06, or 2.4%, to $42.85 in New York Tuesday.
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