BP completes Deepwater Horizon settlement with Louisiana amid ‘gushing’ profits

DVIDS/US Coast Guard/ Paul Rooney

British oil and gas major BP has brought forward its final payments to the State of Louisiana as part of a settlement to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, as its latest quarterly results show “gushing” profits.

CEO Meg O’Neill signed the deal last month with the state’s governor and attorney general, agreeing to pay the state $350m upfront rather than a total of $373m over the next seven years as previously negotiated. 

Following the 2010 explosion at the Gulf of Mexico installation that killed 11 workers and caused one of the worst marine oil spills in history, BP agreed in 2015 to pay a total of $18.7bn over 18 years across a number of settlements, including $4.9bn to five coastal states. The Louisiana agreement will complete over 20% of BP’s outstanding payments to the five states. 

Louisiana governor Jeff Landry thanked BP for “coming to the table”, saying that “unresolved issues, like these, hold Louisiana back”. He added: “This sends a signal to job creators all over America that Louisiana welcomes jobs and economic growth while responsibly dealing with the issues of the past.”

Meanwhile, last month BP reported a surge in profits, increasing by $2.7bn quarter-on-quarter, largely owing to higher refining margins and oil and gas prices that have remained high since the start of the war in the Middle East. In the first nine months of the year, profits skyrocketed from $5.9bn in 2025 to $17.4bn in 2026. O’Neill said the company’s priority will now be to use “excess cashflow” to address remaining Deepwater Horizon settlements. 

Duncan Ferris, an analyst at investment platform Freetrade, said BP’s “gushing profits” were down to “soaring refining margins and strong gas trading”. 

He added: “Shareholders might have hoped outsize profits and cashflows would mean bumper dividends and buybacks. Instead, BP has decided [to] pick up the tab for the past.”

O’Neill added: “Deepwater Horizon was a tragedy. Eleven men lost their lives, and communities and the environment across the Gulf Coast were impacted. We will never forget – it changed BP. Its legacy guides us in how we operate today, with safety at the heart of everything we do.”

Shelling out

Larger company Shell also recorded bumper quarterly profits last month, with pre-tax earnings up by $2bn. Nine-monthly pre-tax profit, meanwhile, increased from $43.3bn in 2025 to $61.2bn in 2026. 

Like BP, Shell attributed growth to “higher refining margins, higher realised LNG prices and higher integrated gas volumes”. 

In light of reduced LNG capacity in Qatar, Shell has grown its gas business in Canada. Earlier this year, it completed the $16.4bn acquisition of Canadian shale producer ARC Resources, while LNG Canada, a joint venture led by Shell, announced plans to double production. Shell said its 12% increase in LNG liquefaction volumes were “mainly due to LNG Canada ramp-up”.