Gulf Oil Spill Documents Will Show Size Of Deepwater Horizon Damage

* U.S. estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled

* BP sought evidence that may show spill was smaller

* Clean Water Act fines dependent on spill total

By Jonathan Stempel

April 11 (Reuters) - BP Plc will gain access to U.S. government documents that may shed light on the size of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a crucial issue in determining the oil company's liability.

According to a Wednesday court filing, the government agreed to produce the documents after BP had accused it two weeks ago of unfairly withholding them because they were privileged.

BP has said the documents may show that an August 2010 estimate of 4.9 million barrels of oil spilled, of which about 800,000 barrels were cleaned up, is too high.

A reduction would lower the maximum civil fine BP could pay under the U.S. Clean Water Act, now estimated as high as $17.6 billion. That law calls for a maximum fine of $1,100 per barrel of oil spilled, or $4,300 if there were gross negligence.

In a filing with the U.S. district court in New Orleans, the government said it will produce 100 documents that BP requested, citing "the importance of this case and the desire of the court to keep this case moving expeditiously."

It said it will work with BP to produce other similar documents, and expects the company to do the same on documents concerning "flow rate" issues at the ruptured Macondo well.

BP, through an outside spokeswoman, declined to comment.

On March 29, BP accused the government of improperly withholding more than 10,000 documents because they reflected policy deliberations.

The London-based company said this decision swept too broadly by keeping factual evidence on the amount of oil discharged under wraps.

In Wednesday's filing, the government said it expects to re-review about 13,000 documents by May 15, and invoke privilege as needed to ensure that decision-making is not impeded.

BP agreed in principle on March 2 to pay $7.8 billion to settle claims by more than 100,000 private plaintiffs for economic, property and other damages.

It still faces potential claims from the government, Gulf Coast states and drilling partners Transocean Ltd and Halliburton Co.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has scheduled a May 3 meeting with lawyers to discuss how the case should proceed.

The case is In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig "Deepwater Horizon" in the Gulf of Mexico, on April 20, 2010, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, No. 10-md-02179.

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Comments

[westcoastsc]

01:33 PM on 04/13/2012

The way this was handled and the coverups as well are a crying shame, not to mention the mysterious deaths of people who had real knowledge over the situation.

[Telegrammar]

08:57 AM on 04/13/2012

If BP "cleaned up" less than 20% of the oil they spilled into the Gulf, then where is the other 80%? Oil doesn't just disappear. Oil from the Exxon Valdez spill is still being found on Alaska's shore after all these years. What untold damage is Deep Water Horizon's spill causing? Or is it "out of sight, out of mind?"

[jsgaetano]

02:07 PM on 04/12/2012

It's pretty obvious there was gross negligence. The entire Pollution Industry treats environmental concerns as an unnecessary and irrelevant issue, forced on them by "big gubment" and "money grubbing environmentalists".

[paul m]

01:18 PM on 04/12/2012

I hope this is a 3D assessment.

It would be quite impressive to see a 3D rendering of the oil in the gulf...

[ajm8127]

11:49 AM on 04/12/2012

I wonder if the 800,000 barrels cleaned up figure include oil which was chemically dispersed, which in my mind is not the same as cleaning it up.

[jsgaetano]

02:10 PM on 04/12/2012

Corexit has been banned in most of the world, because it's toxic to just about everything it comes in contact with, infests the environment, and becomes orders of magnitude more toxic when combined with oil. I've actually stopped eating seafood from Gulf AND the Atlantic because of BP's oil volcano.

[Telegrammar]

08:59 AM on 04/13/2012

Me, too!