What a BP settlement could look like

[TexasTowelie]

With news Sunday that the start of the mammoth BP trial was delayed for a week, speculation immediately moved to talk of a settlement and what it would look like.

Details are emerging of how such as settlement would be structured, but it raises questions about whether a deal with the government is proving more difficult than originally thought. BP is considering a plan in which it would shut down its Gulf Coast Claims Facility and divert the $14 billion that remains in that fund towards a settlement, Bloomberg News reported.

The claims fund, set up in the summer of 2010 to pay claims for businesses hurt by the spill, has doled out about $6 billion so far. The government chose attorney Kenneth Feinberg to process the claims.

“One theory says that Feinberg’s never going to spend $20 billion,” said Eric Smith, a finance professor at Tulane University and associate director of the Entergy-Tulane Energy Institute, who’s been following the case.

http://blog.chron.com/lorensteffy/

[russspeakeasy]

1. BP's claim will go something like this :

"if you force us to pay this incredible amount, we will have to stop our oil/gas production and that will drive prices up for all Americans". "and besides, it wasn't our fault".