Time of trials for BP?

Crossposted from Facing South. Date on which the Gulf oil spill trial is scheduled to begin in New Orleans unless a settlement is reached: 2/27/2012

Percent chance that BP will settle with the federal government before then, according to the former head of the U.S. Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section: 70 to 80

Anticipated settlement: $20 billion to $25 billion

Rank of the BP case among the biggest private litigations in U.S. history: 1

Number of individual lawsuits that have been consolidated into the suit: 535

Number of witnesses expected to take the stand in the trial, which will determine how to apportion blame among BP and the other companies involved in the disaster: 303

Pages of documents that have been produced by parties to the litigation: 72 million

Settlement already paid to BP by Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum, one of the partners in the ill-fated Macondo well, for its role in the disaster: $4 billion

BP's settlement with Macondo partner MOEX, a Houston-based subsidiary of Japanese oil and gas exploration firm Mitsui & Co: $1.065 billion

With Cameron International, Houston-based manufacturer of the failed blowout preventer: $250 million

With Weatherford International, Houston-based manufacturer of a key piece of equipment used in cementing the failed well: $75 million

BP's estimate of total damages from the Gulf disaster: $43 billion

Amount BP has set aside to pay for damages from the spill: $20 billion

Portion paid out to date: $7.8 billion

Net earnings BP reported in 2011: $23.9 billion

Rank of BP among best-performing Big Oil stocks: 1

Percent by which BP raised stockholders' dividend this week, the first upgrade since the Gulf disaster: 14

Number of oil rigs BP expects to be operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico by the end of this year: 8

(Click on figure to go to source.)

Sue Sturgis is an investigative reporter and editorial director of Facing South, the online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies.