Rig operator Transocean said last night it had struck an £870million deal with the US justice department to resolve outstanding civil and potential criminal claims against the company arising from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.
An explosion and fire ripped through a Gulf of Mexico oil platform in the US yesterday as workers used a cutting torch, sending four people to a hospital with burns and leaving two missing in the sea.
The ruptured well that pumped almost 5million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico has been secured and no longer constitutes a threat, it has been confirmed.
Energy supermajor Royal Dutch Shell put beleaguered rival BP in the shade yesterday with a 34% year-on-year rise in second-quarter profits to £2.7billion.
BP TOLD the US Congress yesterday its massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by the failure of a crucial safety device made by another company.
