BP面臨最高137億美元民事罰金

BP is facing a possible civil penalty of up to $13.7bn for its 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico as a result of a court ruling on Thursday, after a US judge split the difference between competing claims about how much oil had escaped into the ocean.

根據一家法院在週四做出的裁決，英國石油(BP)可能會因2010年墨西哥灣溢油事故面臨最高137億美元的民事處罰。在這一裁決中，對於有多少原油泄露到海洋中的問題，一位美國法官在相互矛盾的說法之間採取了折中的方案。

The highest possible penalty is about $4bn less than the maximum previously sought by the US government, but still almost four times as much as the amount set aside by the company.

這一最高的可能罰金比美國政府此前試圖施加的最大數目少了大約40億美元，不過仍是該公司撥備資金的將近4倍。

Judge Carl Barbier at the US District Court in New Orleans ruled on Thursday that BP’s Macondo well had leaked 3.19m barrels of oil into the waters of the gulf: a figure that was not far from the midpoint of the range set by the competing estimates from BP and the US government.

美國新奧爾良地方法院法官卡爾•巴爾比耶(Carl Barbier)週四裁定，英國石油公司Macondo油井向墨西哥灣海域泄露了319萬桶原油。與英國石油公司和美國政府間相互牴觸的估計數字相比，這一數字差不多正好在兩者中間。

BP had argued that 2.45m barrels went into the water, while the US government contended it was 4.19m. Both sides produced expert witnesses and made technical arguments in court to support their estimates.

英國石油公司曾聲稱泄露的原油數目爲245萬桶，而美國政府則認爲是419萬桶。雙方都提供了專家證人，並在法庭上爲支持他們的估計數字開展了技術方面的辯護。

In Judge Barbier’s first decision from the trial, which he handed down last September, BP was found to have acted with gross negligence and wilful misconduct in the actions that caused the spill.

巴爾比耶法官發自該法庭的第一份裁決書是在2014年9月發出的。根據該裁決書，英國石油公司被認定在導致溢油事故的種種行爲中存在重大過失及故意失當行爲。

Under the Clean Water Act, that means it faces a maximum civil penalty of $4,300 per barrel spilled, implying a potential total charge of up to $13.7bn.

根據《清潔水法》(Clean Water Act)，這一裁決意味着該公司將按照其溢油量，面臨最大每桶4300美元的民事處罰。也就是說，總的罰金可能高達137億美元。

The precise total will be set by the judge following a final “penalty phase” of the trial, which begins in New Orleans next Tuesday.

總的準確數額將由法官在此次審判的最終“判罰階段”之後給出，這一階段將於下週二在新奧爾良啓動。

The US government will argue that the penalty should be set at or close to that maximum, while BP will contend that factors that are important under the law, including the efforts it made to clean up the oil and the recovery of the gulf region since the spill, mean that the payment should be much lower.

在這一裁決給出之後，美國政府將會辯稱，罰金應該設置在137億美元的最大值，或者接近這一數值。而英國石油公司則會以多種因素開展抗辯，其中包括該公司在清理油污方面的努力、以及溢油事故後墨西哥灣地區的恢復情況。根據相關法律，這些因素在決定罰金數額方面十分重要，它們會使罰金數額大大降低。

It has provided $3.5bn for the Clean water Act penalty in its accounts.

目前，英國石油公司爲《清潔水法》處罰撥備的資金爲35億美元。