BP's final bill for Gulf of Mexico oil spill comes to $61.6bn

BP’s final bill for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico came to $61.6bn after taking a recent additional $5.2bn pre-tax charge, which the company said has brought the matter to a close

The oil giant said that an $2.5bn after-tax charge will be recorded in its second quarter as a result of the additional charge, which brings the post-tax total to $44bn. The company said that much of the cost of the disaster can be written off against tax.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico resulted from an explosion in Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which was working under contract for BP in the Macondo prospect in April 2011. It was the worst offshore oil and environmental disaster in US history as 11 people were killed and over 3m barrels of oil was spilled affecting shorelines of several states for about three months.

BP agreed to pay up to $18.7bn in penalties to the US government and five states. A US federal judge ruled in 2014 that the company had acted “with gross negligence”.

Under a 2012 settlement the company agreed to compensate businesses and individuals affected by the disaster. The additional charges relate to the extra costs of settlement but further payments for about 85,000 claimants would not be covered by the settlement.

Chief financial officer Brian Gilvary said: "Over the past few months we’ve made significant progress resolving outstanding Deepwater Horizon claims and today we can estimate all the material liabilities remaining from the incident.

"Importantly, we have a clear plan for managing these costs and it provides our investors with certainty going forward."

BP said in order to cover the costs they plan to sell more assets and launch a divestment programme. So far the company has sold more than $45bn in assets.

Gilvary added the company had learnt a lot from the incident in the Macondo prospect.

“There are not many companies that could take that $62bn charge, and still be around. This is a much safer company now, and it no longer has the financial overhang from Macondo overshadowing our future strategy.”

Shares in BP were down 0.84% to 450.85p at 1007 BST.