Judge Finds BP Guilty of ‘Gross Negligence’ in 2010 Deepwater Horizon Blowout

BP faces fines of up to $18 billion, or about $4,300 per barrel of oil spilled, after U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier found it guilty of “gross negligence” and “willful misconduct” in the disastrous 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While Barbier handed BP 67% of the responsibility for the massive drilling rig blowout, the largest in U.S. history, he also assigned blame to BP contractors Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co. “The Court finds that BP’s conduct was ‘reckless’ under general maritime law and a substantial cause of the blowout, explosion, and oil spill,” the ruling stated. BP announced it would appeal the decision.