BP Ordered to Pay Alaska $255 Million for 2006 Pipeline Spill

BP Plc (BP/)’s exploration unit was ordered to pay Alaska $255 million in damages for a 2006 oil pipeline spill at its Prudhoe Bay field, according to the state attorney general’s office. 

The state won an arbitration award against BP Exploration Inc. for damages for oil production shortfalls caused by leaks and pipeline replacements, the office said in an e-mailed statement. BP admitted liability for the purposes of the arbitration and said the state had suffered no losses and asked the arbitration panel to award no damages, the statement said. 

After reimbursements from the other owners of BP Exploration, BP Plc’s share of the judgment will be about $66 million, Dawn Patience, a spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. ConocoPhillips (COP) owns 36 percent of BP Exploration, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) owns 36 percent and Chevron Corp. (CVX) has a 1 percent stake, Patience said. 

“We are pleased to finally resolve the last remaining claim” from the spill, the London-based company said in an e- mailed statement. 

BP pleaded guilty in 2007 to violating the Clean Water Act by spilling 200,000 gallons of oil from its Prudhoe Bay field into water on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006. 

Prudhoe Bay, the largest field in the U.S., came online in 1977 and can produce about 400,000 barrels a day. 

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Chediak in San Francisco at mchediak@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Susan Warren at susanwarren@bloomberg.net

Source:bloomberg