BP puts 2010 Gulf of Mexico penalties at $62 billion

By Ron Bousso

LONDON (Reuters) - BP on Thursday estimated costs from its deadly 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill will total $61.6 billion (46.2 billion pounds) after it agreed to a new $5.2 billion charge it said largely drew claims to a close.

The company said it will record an after-tax charge of around $2.5 billion in its second quarter as a result of the latest charge.

This comes more than a year after the British oil and gas company agreed to pay up to $18.7 billion in penalties to the U.S. government and five states to resolve most claims from the spill in the largest corporate settlement in U.S. history.

The company said in a statement on Thursday that the $5.2 billion charge would mark the last major claim and that any further claims would not have a material impact, drawing the Deepwater Horizon incident near a close.

"Over the past few months we’ve made significant progress resolving outstanding Deepwater Horizon claims and today we can estimate all the material liabilities remaining from the incident," Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said.

BP launched a vast divestment programme following the spill and plans to sell more assets in the coming years in order to cover costs.

The rig explosion on April 20, 2010, the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history, killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of oil onto the shorelines of several states for nearly three months.

BP said in October it would pay more than $20 billion in fines to resolve nearly all claims from the spill, and estimated that pretax charges related to the spill at $53.8 billion.

BP stock closed down 1.05 percent at 454.65 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

(Additional reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru)