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Exxon Mobil told to pay £300m more over spill
16.06.09
Fishermen and other natives of Alaska are set to get another $500 million (£306 million) in damages over the Exxon Valdez, the worst oil spill in American history.
A United States federal appeals court has ruled that the oil giant Exxon Mobil now has to pay interest all the way back to 1996 when the American courts first ruled on the effects of the 1989 grounding of the Valdez, which leaked 11 million gallons of oil and spoiled 1200 miles of coastline.
The ruling takes the total amount of damages that Exxon will or has had to pay up to nearly $1.4 billion.
The supermajor, America's largest oil firm, has already made compensation payments of $507 million and paid punitive damages of $383 million.
The clean-up costs of the Valdez spill have been put at $2.5 billion.
