Transocean recovers US$735m of legal settlement caused by oil disaster

A company associated with BP’s Deepwater Horizon which was involved in an oil spill totalling to over 4 million barrels in the Gulf of Mexico has recovered US$735 million in legal settlements and insurance.

Oil businesses are shrinking as a 50% fall in the price of oil over the past year make investments less worthwhile.

Transocean said second-quarter operating revenues were $1.78bn, down from $2.bn a year ago,

Net income was $348m from $597m.

Transocean owned and partly manned the Deepwater Horizon rig which was being used to extract oil from a BP-owned oil field.

The 2010 explosion on the rig killed 11 people and caused widespread environmental damage.

BP, which operated the well, was ruled “grossly negligent” by a US court.

Potential fines for BP are around $18bn (£11.1bn) and it has set aside more than $42bn to cover the total cost of the accident.