HOUSTON, May 14 (UPI) -- Transocean Ltd. said it filed a petition in Houston to limit liability to $26.7 million for damages from the April sinking of an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
Transocean owns the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which sank in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico after catching fire in April. The explosion killed 11 workers and oil continues to gush from a well deep on the sea floor threatening the vulnerable southern coast of the United States.
With lawsuits descending on operator BP, owner Transocean and contractor Halliburton for the disaster, Transocean said it was filing the petition in part to consolidate the lawsuits against it in a single court.
Transocean stressed, however, that its primary goal was to focus on remediation and meeting the needs of the family members of the injured and deceased, adding it would continue to support BP and federal responders in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company asserted in its filing that the entire value of its interest does not exceed $26.7 million.
The political Web site Politico notes the lawsuit comes as U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, blocked a measure that would increase the maximum liability for an oil spill from $75 million to $10 billion.
Murkowski complained the increase would shove smaller oil companies out of the market and was "not where we need to be right now."
