BP bound by Gulf spill pact, says US court

A divided US appeals court has rejected BP’s bid to block businesses from recovering money over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, even if they could not trace their economic losses to the disaster.

By a 2-1 vote, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upheld a December 24th ruling by US district judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, authorising the payments on so-called business economic loss claims. It also said an injunction preventing payments should be lifted.

The decision is a setback for BP's effort to limit payments under a multibillion dollar settlement over the April 20th, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and rupture of the Macondo oil well. That disaster killed 11 people.

The company has set aside $42.7 billion for related costs. – (Reuters)