BP to pay investors $175M for 2010 spill

BP is going to pay its investors $175 million to settle claims that it deceived them during and after the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The payments, which the company said in a statement it plans to make in 2016 and 2017, are meant to resolve accusations that BP downplayed the severity of the 87-day spill and the rate of oil being released from an undersea well, to the detriment of investors.

{mosads}BP had estimated publicly that 1,000 to 5,000 barrels were leaking from its Macondo well into the Gulf each day.

But internal communications within the company, revealed years later, showed that officials really thought the spill rate was at least 10 times higher. A research group organized by the federal government put the number at 62,000 barrels per day.

When the higher figures were revealed, BP’s stock prices fell.

Shareholders had filed a lawsuit, seeking $2.5 billion, claiming that BP’s actions artificially inflated the value of its stock. A judge ruled that investors who bought stock between 2007 and 2010 are eligible to sue.

A federal judge must approve the proposed settlement.

BP is still facing other securities-related litigation related to the 2010 spill.