BP agrees to pay over $4.5b in fine

British energy giant BP yesterday said it had agreed to pay more than $4.5 billion in US fines related to the devastating 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, including a record $4.0 billion to settle criminal claims.
"The aggregate amount of the resolution is approximately $4.5 billion, with payments scheduled over a period of six years," BP said in a statement.
The company's reputation was ravaged two and a half years ago after an explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and sent millions of barrels of oil spewing into the sea making it the biggest marine oil spill in the industry's history.