Predicting BP’s total liability amount

The only thing keeping Vegas from posting an over / under on the eventual liability that BP will have to pay from the Deepwater Horizon disaster is the fact that it could take decades to determine the total dollar amount.

However, many legal and financial analysts have been making predictions on how much BP will have to pay. Brian O’Neill with Faegre & Benson LLP of Minneapolis, who prevailed with $5 billion in punitive damages from Exxon, says it could be $10 billion from private lawsuits, $5 billion for cleanup costs and $4 billion for damages to natural resources. Goldman and Sachs predicts $33 billion, Credit Suisse $37 billion and Raymond James & Associates $62.9 billion.

Zygmunt Plater, former chairman of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission, says the total could reach $90 billion.

Factors in play will include the cost of cleanup, civil penalties and litigation by businesses, communities and investors.

Source: Reuters