LONDON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. government wants British oil giant BP Plc. (BP, BP.L) to pay $16 billion to $18 billion in water-pollution fines for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history while seeking more than $1 billion from the co-owner, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC), of the blown-out well that caused the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster, according to reports.
The federal government said BP deserves the maximum fine, the reports said.
U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans ruled in September that London-based BP acted with gross negligence in drilling the well, a finding that quadruples the per-barrel penalty.
The reports said that Barbier will conduct a non-jury trial next month to set pollution fines for BP and its well partner, Anadarko Petroleum, after weighing multiple factors including the spill's size and the level of responsibility each company bears for the disaster.
While Anadarko doesn't deserve the maximum fine, a substantial penalty is warranted because it provided virtually no assistance after the spill and a small fine wouldn't be sufficient punishment for a multibillion-dollar oil company, the government reportedly said.
BP reportedly stated that it deserved a fine 'at the lower end of the statutory range' because it already has incurred $42 billion in liabilities from the spill, including more than $14 billion spent to stop and clean up the damage. The company said a smaller fine is also appropriate because the spill caused less environmental and economic harm than had been expected.
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