Oil spill claims expansion for shrimpers, crabbers is not retroactive

In a move that Kenneth Feinberg hopes will bring holdout commercial fishers to the settlement table, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill claims czar announced Wednesday he will double compensation payments for shrimpers and crabbers. From now on, Feinberg's Gulf Coast Claims Facility will compensate shrimp and crab harvesters at four times their documented 2010 losses, rather than the old formula of twice the 2010 losses. Those who have already received final payments will not be eligible for more money, he said.

BP Can’t Use Transocean Insurance for Oil Spill, Judge Rules

Updates with Transocean comment in eighth paragraph.)

Nov. 15 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc can’t use Transocean Ltd.’s insurance coverage to pay costs related to the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a judge in New Orleans ruled.

BP filed claims with Transocean’s carriers last year, seeking access to $750 million in coverage under multiple policies. Lloyd’s of London, along with other excess underwriters, and Ranger Insurance, Transocean’s primary insurer, opposed the claims, contending the rig owner’s contract with BP didn’t provide such coverage.

The carriers owe no duty to pay claims or defense costs to BP, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said today.

“The court finds that BP, under the drilling contract, assumed responsibility for Macondo well oil release pollution liabilities,” Barbier said in a 42-page ruling. “Because Transocean did not assume these liabilities, there is no additional insurance obligation in favor of BP for these liabilities.”

The Macondo blowout and the explosion that followed killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. The accident and spill led to hundreds of lawsuits against London-based BP and its partners and contractors. The lawsuits over economic losses and personal injuries have been combined before Barbier.

Co-Defendants

The lawsuits also name as defendants Transocean, the Switzerland-based owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded and sank; Houston-based Halliburton Co., which provided cementing services to the well; and Cameron International, which provided blowout-prevention equipment.

BP’s minority partners in the well, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Mitsui & Co.’s Moex Offshore LLC unit, were also sued. Anadarko and Moex had joined BP in seeking coverage from Transocean’s insurance.

Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for Transocean, said the company was “pleased with the outcome.” He declined to comment further. “We will let the court’s decision speak for itself.”

Scott Dean, a BP spokesman, had no immediate comment on the decision.

BP had agreed in its contract with Transocean that the rig’s owner wouldn’t be responsible for any pollution that originated below the surface of the land or water from spills, leaks or discharges, Lloyd’s argued in court papers. “Because liabilities BP faces for pollution emanating from BP’s well are from below the surface and from BP’s well, those liabilities are not within the scope of the additional insured protection,” Lloyd’s said in a 2010 filing.

Pollution Liability

Cleanup crews race Tropical Storm Lee to clean up oil spill

 

Heavy machinery moves around earth as efforts continue to clean up an oil spill Friday, Sept. 2, 2011 at Gulf Coast Asphalt Co. in Mobile, Ala. About 275,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil spilled at the facility which sits on the Mobile River. The Mobile River remains closed to boat traffic between the Cochrane-Africatown USA Bridge to the McDuffie Coal Terminal as crews attempt to clean up the oil spill that occurred Thursday at the plant. (Press-Register, G.M. Andrews)

MOBILE, Alabama -- Cleanup crews swarmed across Gulf Coast Asphalt Company’s riverfront property Friday, racing to scoop up tens of thousands of gallons of heavy fuel oil before the arrival of Tropical Storm Lee.