Settlements understood to resolve outstanding claims from 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that spewed 134m gallons of oil into the sea

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

All five Gulf of Mexico states have reached a settlement with the owner of the offshore drilling rig involved in the 2010 BP oil spill.

A court filing from Transocean and attorneys for Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas said all of the states had entered a settlement agreement. Alabama’s governor announced that state’s settlement with Transocean last week.

Louisiana five years after BP oil spill: 'It's not going back to normal no time soon' Read more

Transocean acknowledged the settlement in a brief emailed statement on Wednesday but did not provide details.

The Alabama governor, Robert Bentley, said last week that Transocean was paying the state $20m to resolve legal claims. Louisiana released documents on Wednesday indicating it would get $4m and Texas said it would receive $2m. Mississippi and Florida officials did not immediately respond to requests for details of their settlements.

The Transocean settlements amount to far less than settlements announced earlier in 2015 between oil company BP and the states. That settlement, which also involved the US Justice Department, is estimated to be worth more than $20bn. It awaits final approval from a federal judge in New Orleans who earlier had assigned most of the blame in the disaster to BP.

Eleven workers were killed when the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in April 2010. An estimated 134m gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf from the well site until it was capped 87 days later.