US Supreme Court rejects BP and Anadarko oil spill appeal

The US Supreme Court has rejected appeals from Anadarko Petroleum Corp and BP over fines related to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The high court let stand a lower court ruling from June 2014 that the owners of the Macondo well were liable for civil penalties under the federal Clean Water Act.

BP and Andarko had argued that the oil did not leak from the well itself but rather from the broken pipe underwater which was owned by Transocean.

BP owned a 65% share in the Macondo well, while Anadarko owned 25%.

In 2014, Transocean agreed to pay the US government $1bn in civil penalties in connection with the spill.