BP has asked a US judge to order a “vast number” of businesses to repay hundreds of millions of pounds it says were wrongly awarded as compensation on claims stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The UK oil major wants US district judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans to demand they make restitution plus interest of excess payments, which it called “windfalls.”
It also requested an injunction to stop the businesses from spending these excess sums.
BP said letting the overpayments stand would create discrepancies, rewarding firms whose awards were made sooner.
It escalates BP’s legal battle over how to interpret its 2012 settlement to resolve claims by businesses who said they suffered economic losses because of the spill.
According to BP, claimants’ lawyers and claims administrator Patrick Juneau have misinterpreted the settlement – allowing recoveries without proof that the spill caused losses.
The oil company has said the uncapped settlement could cost £5.4billion, higher than its original £4.6billion estimate, and that this amount could grow.
On June 9, the US Supreme Court said BP must continue to pay claims as it pursues legal challenges to the payouts.
Six months ago, Judge Barbier asked Juneau to change his policy in reviewing claims applications and make sure claimants could “match” revenues with costs for the purpose of calculating financial losses.
BP now says this will lead to “dramatically different calculations of lost profits,” and justifies recouping earlier, inflated awards.
The well blowout and explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010, led to the largest offshore oil spill in US history.
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