BP wants review of Deepwater Horizon ruling

HOUSTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- British energy company BP said it wanted a Louisiana court decision the company was negligent in the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico reviewed.

A district court in Louisiana ruled in September that BP's activities at the Macondo well beneath the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico amounted to willful misconduct. In its 152-page ruling, the court found a series of BP failures at the well "created the catastrophic situation" that lead to the 2010 spill.

The incident left 11 rig workers dead and led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

BP said the judge in the case based the decision on information the British oil company said he initially said he wouldn't consider in court.

"Through its motion, BP has asked the District Court to amend its Sept. 4 order or, in the alternative, to grant a new trial because the Court's findings and conclusions are based substantially on expert witness opinions that the Court appropriately and expressly excluded from evidence at trial," the company said in a statement published Friday.

U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier's ruling means BP may be liable for as much as $18 billion, about four times as much as the maximum for violating the federal Clean Water Act.

He divided the blame among BP, with 67 percent, rig owner Transocean, with 30 percent, and oil services company Halliburton, with 3 percent.