BP says final bill for Gulf of Mexico oil spill stands at $61.6bnJuly 15, 2016 - 10:10 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - BP said the final bill for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be $61.6bn, BBC News reports. The company believes that any further claims related to the spill will "not have a material impact". On 20 April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing an oil spill that soon became the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Since then BP has been paying hefty fines, compensation and legal bills. Last year, chief executive Bob Dudley described the fire on the Deepwater Horizon and its aftermath as "a near death experience" for the firm. He said it had shaken the company "to its core" and led to a complete change in its organisational structure. "Sometimes it takes a near death experience to radically change a company. It was a forced focussing down of what we do, it was: 'This is what we need to do to survive'," Mr Dudley said on the BBC's Today Programme. The company sold off more than $45bn in assets to help cover the costs of the spill. "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," Brian Gilvary, BP chief financial officer said in a statement. "Importantly, we have a clear plan for managing these costs and it provides our investors with certainty going forward." In October of last year, BP agreed to pay $20bn to settle claims with the U.S. government stemming from the spill. That settlement was the largest the U.S. government had ever reached with a single company. Related links: Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |