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Washington - Oil company BP completed a $20.8bn agreement Monday with the US government and states on the Gulf of Mexico to settle claims over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The US Justice Department said the resolution - which includes federal civil environmental damages and economic damages for the five states and hundreds of local governments from Texas to Florida - is the largest settlement with a single company in the department's history.
"This historic resolution is a strong and fitting response to the worst environmental disaster in American history," said attorney general Loretta Lynch said.
"BP is receiving the punishment it deserves while also providing critical compensation for the injuries it caused to the environment and the economy of the gulf region."
The Deepwater Horizon disaster was the largest offshore oil spill in US history. An estimated 507 million litres of oil spilled into the gulf over 87 days after an April 20, 2010, oil rig explosion that killed 11 crew members.
The deal finalises an agreement first announced in July at $18.7bn. The natural resource damages are now increased.
The BP agreement, which will be paid out over time, includes $5.5bn in federal Clean Water Act penalties plus interest, much of which is earmarked for gulf restoration efforts. It also includes $8.1bn in natural resource damages, plus $700m for any later-discovered natural resource damage, to be spent on habitat restoration.
$600m will go for claims, including state and federal government investigation and assessment costs, $4.9bn to Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, and up to $1bn to several hundred local governments for economic damages due to the spill.
