OIL GIANT BP SETTLES WITH VICTIMS

Oil giant BP has reached an estimated 7.8 billion-US-dollar deal with plaintiffs, including fishermen and clean-up workers who are suing over the massive 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, just three days before the case was due to go to trial. However, the company still faces claims by the U.S. government, Gulf states, its drilling partners and shareholders.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said the proposed terms of the class settlement would be submitted to court for approval.

He had already delayed the start of the trial to allow the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee, representing fisherman and businesses whose livelihoods were damaged by the oil spill, to negotiate.

BP said the nearly 8 billion-US-dollar settlement includes a commitment by BP worth 2.3 billion US dollars to help resolve loss claims related to the Gulf seafood industry.

In Venice, Louisiana, only 42 miles northwest of the ruptured well, fishermen said that the litigation will make little difference.

David Wellmeyer: "It's not really going to affect me one way or the other, no matter who gets the blame, who pays the fine or who goes to jail, who doesn't go to jail, who gets away,"

Dan Skermetta: "I think it's just all the big guys pointing fingers at each other. Nobody wants to be at fault or the blame dropped on. It's probably a little bit of all of their fault because they - not that rules aren't in place already to cover what happened out there; it's just that they get a little lax, they cut a few corners to keep a job rolling and stuff happens. And it happened,"

Eleven people were killed in the explosion on April 20, 2010. It took nearly three months for BP to stopped the leakage, while 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled from the mile-deep well, causing by far the worst offshore oil spill disaster in the U.S. The 7.8 billion-US-dollar settlement will be paid from BP's 20 billion-US-dollar fund set up in the wake of the rig disaster.

BP is one of a number of corporate defendants in the case. Others include Swiss-based Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon, and Houston-based Halliburton Co, which provided cementing services for the well, are also suing each other.

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