Rig owner holds closed-door meeting in Switzerland (AP)

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Justice Department reached a US$1.4-billion settlement Thursday with Transocean Ltd., the owner of the drilling rig that sank after an explosion killed 11 workers and spawned the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP Plc lost a motion to dismiss the issue of a potential finding of gross negligence, which could trigger fines as much as US$17.6-billion, in the trial over its role in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP lawyer Andrew Langan asked for a partial ruling Monday as the lawyers for the plaintiffs suing the company rested their case. “We don’t think there has been a finding of gross negligence” against BP, Langan told U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, who is conducting the nonjury trial.

(NEW ORLEANS) — Oil giant BP has agreed to pay a criminal penalty in the billions of dollars for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a person familiar with the deal said Thursday. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the deal, also said two BP PLC employees face manslaughter charges over the death of 11 people in the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that triggered the massive spill.

I’m sorry it happened. I wish it had never happened…and everybody was still at work A Halliburton Co. worker assigned to monitor a BP Plc well testified at trial that he missed a warning sign of a potential blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig before the explosion that set off the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

AP - The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is launching an investigation into the tax practices of Transocean Ltd., owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to the massive oil spill.