BP, in its latest annual report, said that the company is speculating that it would have to pay more than its previously estimated compensation for private financial and property damage, in relation to the Deepwater Horizon crisis in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP has said that average payments for business economic losses until now have been much higher than earlier estimated and it could be more than $7.7bn.
BP chief executive Bob Dudley last week said that the company has so far spent about $24bn as part of cleanup and restoration costs and payments, in relation to claims made by individuals, businesses and governments over Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Dudley noted that the multinational firm has spent or provisioned over $40bn in total for the disaster.
The company is currently involved in a civil trial that could bring additional compensation amounting to over $17.6bn, reported The Wall Street Journal.
The trial is in connection to the Deepwater Horizon accident in 2010, which killed 11 people and lead to the worst offshore oil spill in US history.
According to BP, the cost of the plaintiffs’ steering-committee settlement was higher than anticipated, as the administrator of the compensation fund has used a more liberal analysis of the payout agreement than BP had understood initially.
In February 2013, the company said that it expects the payment to cost $8.5bn, which was an increase from the original estimated cost of $7.8bn in 2012.
BP is currently facing a civil trial in New Orleans, to dole out blame for the disaster, while a second trial, which is expected to begin in the fall, will determine how much oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico.