A U.S. court has approved the biggest criminal penalties in U.S. history given to British oil giant BP as part of a settlement related to the fatal 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, BBC News reported.

In November, BP said it would pay $4bn to the U.S. Department of Justice and agreed to plead guilty to 14 criminal charges. The sum included a $1.26bn fine.

The Deepwater Horizon incident was one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history. It killed 11 workers and released millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days.

Two BP workers have been indicted on manslaughter charges and an ex-manager charged with misleading Congress.

The oil giant has been selling assets worth billions of pounds to raise money to settle all claims. The company is expected to make a final payment of $860m into the $20bn Gulf of Mexico compensation fund by the end of the year.

The resolution with the DoJ includes a record criminal fine of $1.26bn, as well as $2.4bn to be paid to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and $350m to be paid to the National Academy of Sciences, over a period of five years.

BP will also pay an $525m to the Securities and Exchange Commission over a period of three years.