BP Escapes US Lawsuits Over Post-Gulf Spill Drilling Ban
BP Plc does not have to face U.S. lawsuits by energy and drilling companies over losses they suffered from an offshore drilling ban imposed soon after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal judge ruled. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans agreed with BP that federal law absolved the British oil company from liability for the Obama administration's decision to halt drilling and impose a moratorium on permits for new wells. The decision issued late on Thursday removes one of BP's last legal overhangs from the April 20, 2010 blowout of its Macondo well and the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, a disaster that killed 11 workers. BP has incurred $55.5 billion of costs for the spill, according to a March 4 regulatory filing by the company.
Tanker with Kurdish Crude Leaving U.S. After 6-month Dispute
After being stuck in legal limbo for six months, a tanker loaded with 1 million barrels of Kurdish crude headed east on Tuesday to leave U.S. waters after Baghdad and the Kurds reached a deal to share oil revenue. The United Kalavrvta tanker, which had been anchored in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico since July, was headed across the Atlantic to Gibraltar, said the vessel's operator, Marine Management Services, based in Greece. It added that is has not received any orders to discharge the cargo. Last week, motions filed in a Houston court by lawyers for Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government showed the vessel would soon have to move to another destination in order to pass special surveys designed to maintain its class certification.
Call for Safety Checks of All BP North Sea Rigs
According to a June 6 report from The Observer, BP will come under further pressure when, on June 7, a U.S. consumer advocacy group, lawyers and a whistleblower call for safety checks on all the company's rigs in the North Sea. The group, Food and Water Watch, has just filed for an injunction in a Houston court calling for BP to be stopped from drilling at the Atlantis platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and it will argue that the case raises questions about the way the company's rigs are operated throughout the world. (Source: The Observer)
