BP Plc has raised the total liability from the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, which triggered the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, by $5.2 billion to $61.6 billion before tax.
The London-based company expects to take a $2.5 billion after-tax charge in its second-quarter earnings following “significant progress” in resolving outstanding claims, it said in a statement Thursday. Any further payments related to the 2010 incident that killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico won’t have a material impact on financial performance, it said.
“Over the past few months we’ve made significant progress resolving outstanding Deepwater Horizon claims,” Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said in the statement. “Importantly, we have a clear plan for managing these costs and it provides our investors with certainty going forward.”