Oil, Oil Spill | featured news

A US court approves the biggest criminal fine in US history given to British oil giant BP as part of a settlement related to the fatal 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. In November, BP said it would pay $4bn (£2.5bn) to the US Department of Justice and agreed to plea guilty to 14 criminal charges. The sum included a $1.26bn fine.

Oil giant BP is back in the black, announcing profits of $5.3 billion just a year after the Deepwater Horizon disaster left it facing heavy losses.

Cleanup along the oil-fouled Yellowstone River could be tested as rising waters make it harder for Exxon to get to areas damaged by the crude spilled from a company pipeline.

Shares in oil major BP hit a six-month high on Tuesday after The Daily Mail newspaper reported rival Royal Dutch Shell had considered a takeover bid during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley accused some politicians and the media on Monday of being too hasty to pin all the blame on his company for the devastating Gulf of Mexico spill - and emphasized the need for deep-water drilling.

Spill from blowout is degrading rapidly in warm waters, becoming tougher to find, director says.

China and environmental observers said cleanup efforts on the country's largest reported oil spill were progressing Thursday, but the environmental and economic damage was clear.

The recently recapped oil well in the Gulf of Mexico could remain closed until the relief well is drilled if tests remain favorable, a BP official said Sunday morning.

BP said today its attempt to place a new cap on its ruptured undersea well was proceeding as planned. But while robots replace the old cap, crude is flowing freely.

In the 77 days since oil from the ruptured Deepwater Horizon began to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, BP has skimmed or burned about 60 percent of the amount it promised regulators it could remove in a single day. The disparity between what BP promised in its March 24 filing with federal regulators and the amount of oil recovered since the April 20 explosion underscores what some officials and environmental groups call a misleading numbers game that has led to widespread confusion about the extent of the spill and the progress of the recovery.