Mitsui MOEX To Pay $90 Million for BP Gulf Oil Spill

Mitsui MOEX Offshore, part of Japanese conglomerate Mitsui & Co., will pay $90 million for the BP Gulf Oil Spill of 2010 in what is the first settlement ahead of the liabilities trial expected to start in 10 days.

Mitsui MOEX, The Wall Street Journal reported, had a 10 percent stake in the Macondo well. The settlement was brokered between the U.S. Department of Justice, the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The company will pay $70 million in civil Clean Water Act penalties resulting from the spill, $45 million of which will be placed in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, used to pay for oil spill responses. The difference will be divided between Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Texas.

An additional $20 million, the Department of Justice said, will go to land purchases along the gulf to help in conservation efforts.

The settlement, the DOJ said, is the largest falling under the Clean Water Act in history. In 2010, a blowout in one of BP's Gulf Coast rigs caused a fire that killed 11 workers and set off the worst environmental accident in U.S. history. Roughly 206 million gallons of oil may have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico before the well was capped, according to The New York Times.

The Department of Justice has not wavered in its commitment to hold all responsible parties fully accountable for what stands as the largest oil spill in U.S. history, said Attorney General Eric Holder in a statement. This landmark settlement is an important step - but only a first step - toward achieving accountability and protecting the future of the Gulf ecosystem by funding critical habitat preservation projects.

Two other companies have yet to settle with the government. BP held a 65 percent stake in the well; Anadarko had the remaining 25 percent stake.

Mitsui & Co., traded down 15 cents in afternoon trading Friday to $341.90.

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