Washington (Platts)--4Sep2014/1231 pm EDT/1631 GMT

A US judge Thursday said BP acted with "gross negligence and willful misconduct" that led to the 2010 Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a ruling that could force the company to pay further penalties reaching $18 billion, almost $5 billion more than it earned in 2013.

US District Judge Carl Barbier of the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans also found Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon platform, as well as oil services giant Halliburton, grossly negligent in the spill, which killed 11 and spewed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf

Barbier's decision, a key step that could lead to BP being fined $18 billion, the maximum under the US Clean Water Act, apportioned 67% of the blame for the spill to BP, 30% to Transocean and 3% to Halliburton. But the judge has yet to rule on exactly how much oil was spilled, an important ruling that will fully determine BP's liability.

"BP's conduct was reckless," Barbier wrote in his ruling. "Transocean's conduct was negligent. Halliburton's conduct was negligent."

BP earned $13.4 billion in 2013, according to its annual report, and it has set aside $3.5 billion to cover fines related to the lawsuit, which was filed by the federal government, the states of Louisiana and Alabama, and other groups.

BP Thursday said it would immediately appeal Barbier's decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

"BP believes that the finding that it was grossly negligent with respect to the accident and that its activities at the Macondo well amounted to willful misconduct is not supported by the evidence at trial," the company said in a statement. "The law is clear that proving gross negligence is a very high bar that was not met in this case."

BP stock plunged $2.59, or 5.43%, in morning New York Stock Exchange trading on the news.

--Herman Wang, herman.wang@platts.com
--Edited by Richard Rubin, richard.rubin@platts.com

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