BP reaches US$7.8 billion deal

British Petroleum (BP) says it has reached a deal worth US$7.8 billion with the largest group of plaintiffs suing the company over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil rig spill.



It will benefit some 100,000 fishermen, local residents and clean-up workers whose livelihoods or health were affected by the spill.



The company has not admitted liability and still faces claims from the US and individual State governments as well as drilling firms.



The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, killing 11 workers and leaking four million barrels of oil.



BP says it expects the money to come from a 20 billion US dollar compensation fund it had previously set aside.



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