Judge approves BP's Macondo plea

Approval: US judge OKs BP's Macondo plea deal

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By Luke Johnson & news reports

 29 January 2013 18:26 GMT

A federal US judge on Tuesday accepted BP's agreement to plead guilty to charges of manslaughter and lying to Congress and to pay a record fine related to the catastrophic 2010 Macondo well blowout and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The UK supermajor agreed in November to the plea, taking legal responsibility for the deaths of all 11 men killed aboard the the semi-submersible Deepwater Horizon, which subsequently sunk after the blowout in April 2010 that led to the worst offshore oil spill in US history.

BP also plead guilty to one felony count of obstruction of Congress, as well as one misdemeanour under the Clean Water Act and one misdemeanour under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

It agreed to pay the US government $4 billion, including $1.256 billion in criminal fines,…

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