Transocean, the drilling company that owned and operated the Deepwater Horizion drilling platform, has reportedly reached a $1.4 billion legal settlement over claims related to that rig's explosion and oil spill in April 2010. Reuters reports today that Transocean will pay $1 billion in civil penalties and another $400 million in civil penalties. Both Transocean and BP, the oil company they were working for, have been blamed by the federal government for the failure at the drilling site that led to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Late last year, BP settled their cases with the United States for $4.5 billion dollars, though several employees still face criminal charges. No official announcement has been made, but sources say the Swiss-based company would plead guilty to violations of the Clean Water Act as part of the settlement. The Deepwater explosion killed 11 workers, sunk the floating oil platform, and spilled over 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf.

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Dashiell Bennett