BP says total Gulf spill bill $61.6bn

BP said the final bill for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill will be $61.6bn (£46.2bn).

The company believes that any further claims related to the spill will "not have a material impact".

On 20 April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and causing an oil spill that soon became the worst environmental disaster in US history.

Since then BP has been paying hefty fines, compensation and legal bills.

Last year, chief executive Bob Dudley described the fire on the Deepwater Horizon and its aftermath as "a near death experience" for the firm.

He said it had shaken the company "to its core" and led to a complete change in its organisational structure.

"Sometimes it takes a near death experience to radically change a company. It was a forced focussing down of what we do, it was: 'This is what we need to do to survive'," Mr Dudley said on the BBC's Today Programme.

Greater certainty

The company sold off more than £30bn ($45bn) in assets to help cover the costs of the spill.

"Over the past few months we've made significant progress resolving outstanding Deepwater Horizon claims and today we can estimate all the material liabilities remaining from the incident," Brian Gilvary, BP chief financial officer said in a statement.

"Importantly, we have a clear plan for managing these costs and it provides our investors with certainty going forward."

In October of last year, BP agreed to pay $20bn (£13.2bn) to settle claims with the US government stemming from the spill.

That settlement was the largest the US government had ever reached with a single company.