The US government has pledged to continue its legal battle with BP over the Deepwater Horizon despite the company reaching a £4.9billion deal to compensate businesses and individuals.
An out-of-court settlement will see BP pay the money to meet 110,000 private claims, including fishermen who lost work and people who said their health suffered following the oil spill.
But the US Department of Justice said the settlement does not compensate for “significant damages” or BP’s “violation of the law”. It is bringing a federal negligence case against BP following the explosion on April 2010, which caused millions of barrels of oil to leak into the Gulf of Mexico and killed 11 workers.
If BP is found grossly negligent it could be fined as much as £11billion under the Clean Water Act.
The DoJ said: “While we are pleased BP may be stepping up to address harms to individual, this by no means fully addresses its responsibility for the harm it has caused.”