BP’s costs from 2010 oil spill grow $1.7 billion

BP said Tuesday that its costs related to the major 2010 oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico grew by $1.7 billion.

The oil giant said it expects to take a charge of that amount in its upcoming earnings report from the fourth quarter of 2017.

BP said the court-supervised settlement program set up to manage claims related to the spill is winding down its operations.

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But the company nonetheless needs to take the charge due to unexpectedly high claims in the fourth quarter of 2017.

“With the claims facility’s work very nearly done, we now have better visibility into the remaining liability,” Brian Gilvary, BP’s chief financial officer, said in a Tuesday statement.

“The charge we are taking, as a result, is fully manageable within our existing financial framework, especially now that we have the company back into balance at $50 per barrel.”

The disaster on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig killed 11 people and caused an 87-day uncontrolled oil spill, spewing millions of barrels of oil into the water before it was stopped.

The catastrophe has already cost BP more than $60 billion.