According to many sources, Anadarko Petroleum and BP have agreed on a settlement in the matter of claims and cost reimbursements stemming from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig disaster and subsequent Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Anadarko is the first of three companies associated with the disaster to settle with BP.
The agreement states that Anadarko will pay BP $4 billion and will transfer transfer its 25-percent stake in Mississippi Canyon block 252, the site of the Macondo well which blew out following the collapse of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
In exchange, BP agrees to release its claims against Anadarko for some $6 billion in disaster-related costs incurred to date and agrees not to seek reimbursement of additional costs. BP will also indemnify Anadarko against a variety of damage claims and damage assessment costs.
"Though the agreement does not provide indemnification against fines and penalties, punitive damages or certain other potential claims, we do not consider these items to represent a significant financial risk to Anadarko," said Anadarko chairman and CEO Jim Hackett, citing court decisions that have released the company from liability and investigations that showed it had no direct role in drilling the stricken well.
Read more from Fuel Fix, here, a longer report from Bloomberg Businessweek, here, and read about early market reaction from the U.K.'s The Telegraph, here.