Rig owner settles with U.S. for $1.4B in Gulf oil spill

The driller whose floating Deepwater Horizon oil rig's explosion caused a well to spill millions of gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 agreed to settle civil and criminal claims with the federal government for $1.4 billion, The New York Times reported.

The settlement resolves the government's claims against Transocean. However, that company and others involved in the spill still face a sprawling multistage civil case scheduled to begin in New Orleans next month. British oil giant…