2nd UPDATE: BP, Weatherford International In Settlement On Deepwater Horizon
20 Junho 2011 - 8:37PM
Dow Jones News
BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) said Monday that it will shield Weatherford
International Ltd. (WFT) against private claims related to last
year's Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Weatherford agreed to pay the oil company $75 million in
exchange for some protection against the storm of litigation that
has followed the deadly explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig,
which killed 11 and resulted in the worst offshore oil spill in
U.S. history. The company provided BP with casing components for
its doomed deepwater well.
Monday's indemnity agreement marks the second settlement BP has
reached with its partners and services providers at the Deepwater
Horizon site.
Japan's Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (MITSY), which held a 10% stake in
the lease where the Deepwater Horizon rig was drilling, last month
agreed to pay BP nearly $1.1 billion to help fund cleanup
efforts.
Like the Mitsui deal, BP's pact with Weatherford shelters the
oilfield service company from claims brought by private businesses
and property owners seeking compensatory damages. But it doesn't
protect Weatherford from punitive damages or penalties that might
come from the government.
Lamar McKay, who heads BP's U.S. unit, said the company is
"gratified" that some of the companies involved in the drilling of
the Deepwater Horizon well "have stepped forward" to recognize the
findings of government investigations that pointed the finger not
only at BP, but at drilling practices across the industry.
Weatherford's $75 million, which is being paid by its insurers,
will go into a $20 billion fund BP established to compensate Gulf
Coast hoteliers, fishermen and others who lost wages last summer as
oil washed onto the northern Gulf Coast.
Weatherford Chief Executive Bernard Duroc-Danner said the truce
helps solidify the company's relationship with a major customer and
eliminates uncertainty about the company's exposure to the
disaster.
Weatherford shares rose 1.2% to $17.11 in after-market
trading.
Simmons & Co. analyst Bill Herbert said the deal looks like
a favorable development for Weatherford, which has put the
Deepwater Horizon incident, and its "attendant legal distractions,
in the rear view mirror," without biting into the company's cash
reserves.
In announcing the settlement BP chided others involved in the
disaster to follow the example of Weatherford and Mitsui and
"contribute appropriately." BP specifically mentioned rig owner and
operator Transocean Ltd. (RIG), 25% stakeholder Anadarko Petroleum
Co. (APC) and Halliburton Co. (HAL), which cemented the well.
At the same time that it announced its truce with Weatherford,
BP filed complaints in federal court against two suppliers with
relatively minor roles in the Deepwater Horizon drilling project.
The complaints were filed Monday against Dril-Quip Inc. (DRQ),
which provided wellhead systems to the deepwater project, and M-I
Swaco, a unit of Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) that sold BP drilling
fluids.
-By Ryan Dezember, Dow Jones Newswires; 713-547-9208;
ryan.dezember@dowjones.com
--Drew FitzGerald and Angel Gonzalez contributed to this
story.
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