国际英语新闻：BP waives legal cap on liability from Gulf oil spill

HOUSTON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- British oil giant BP has told a court it was committed to waiving the legal cap on its liability from the Gulf oil spill that could have limited the company's liability cost to 75 million U.S. dollars.

The London-base company said in a court filing on Monday that it has chosen to waive the statutory limitation on liability under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act (OPA), local media reported on Tuesday.

"BP consistently has said it would pay all legitimate claims, regardless of the OPA statutory limit of liability," the company's lawyers said in the filing.

BP had previously promised that it would pay all clean-up costs and all 'legitimate claims" related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, rather than applying the cap.

The April 20 explosion on BP-released Deepwater Horizon drilling rig off Louisiana coast killed 11 workers and unleashed the worst oil spill in the U.S. history.

A 20-billion-U.S.-dollar compensation fund established by BP has reportedly paid out nearly 1.5 billion dollars to business owners and residents along the Gulf coast.