Tagged: Transocean

Transocean Ltd. and the Justice Department have discussed a $1.5 billion settlement that would resolve federal civil and criminal claims against the company over its role in the deadly 2010 rig explosion that spawned the nation's worst offshore oil spill.

But Switzerland-based Transocean Ltd. said in a regulatory filing Monday that a "number of issues," including the possible time period for payment, must be resolved before a deal can be completed.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

BP has won a ruling that bars some references to earlier accidents from a trial over its 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The federal judge hearing the case feared opening a “trial within a trial.”

A federal judge in New Orleans has ruled BP is primarily responsible for damage caused by the oil spill in 2010. But, Eileen Fleming reports, the owner of the drilling rig that blew up could still have to pay punitive damages and civil penalties.