Macondo settlement music to BP’s ears

By Terry Macalister

 02 March 2012 01:54 GMT

THE postponement by one week of the Macondo trial in New Orleans to give time for BP and some plaintiffs to negotiate over a potential settlement is a sign of hope for the UK supermajor.

If the company is able to pull off a deal with 116,000 private claimants, it would be a huge morale booster.

The terms of the deal would clearly have to be agreeable to both sides, and there is no certainty at this stage that such a coup can be delivered.

However, agreement would give forward momentum to a long-drawn out legal process that has savaged the BP share price since the disaster nearly two years ago.

What any settlement would not do is have any impact on ongoing legal action by state and federal…

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