U.S. federal judge approves 20-bln-USD settlement in BP oil spill case

A federal judge in the U.S. city of New Orleans on Monday approved a 20-billion-U.S. dollar settlement to end years of litigation over the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The spill in 2010 killed 11 people and spewed millions of barrels of oil onto the shorelines of several states for nearly three months.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled that the British multinational company should be responsible for the offshore rig blast that caused the oil spill, according to the Times-Picayune daily in New Orleans.

The judge signed off on the agreement, which was reached with the U.S. government and the five Gulf states of Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas.

The settlement, first announced in July 2015, includes 5.5 billion dollars in civil Clean Water Act penalties and billions more to cover environmental damage and other claims by the five states and local governments. The money will be paid over 16 years.

The U.S. Justice Department has estimated that the settlement will cost BP as much as 20.8 billion dollars in the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history as well as the largest-ever civil settlement with a single entity.

BP welcomed the settlement.

The blowout of BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico triggered an explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010, causing what is believed to be the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. Endi