The oil giant will argue that it has already spent $28b - on compensation, cleaning up the area and restoring it - and that the zone has gone through a period of recovery. It will also say that the penalty should be assessed on the BP subsidiary operating in the US, BP Exploration and Production Inc, not on BP overall. It has had some success so far in that it will not get the maximum $18b fine that was possible but that the sum will be capped at $13.7b. Judge Carl Barbier is expected to make his decision in May at the earliest.
Cash on hand
In a pre-trial briefing, the US government said: 'BP is the fifth largest public company in the world (by revenues) and could pay the maximum penalty out of existing cash on hand.' Source: FT
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