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The Obama administration sued units of BP Plc and four other companies, saying they violated environmental laws in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, according to a court filing.

The civil lawsuit, filed today in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, is the first brought by the U.S. over the oil spill caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in April. The Justice Department’s civil investigation is continuing, as is a probe of potential criminal violations.

The lawsuit seeks damages under the Clean Water Act and to declare four of the defendants liable under the Oil Pollution Act for all removal costs and damages caused by the oil spill, including damages to the environment, according to a Justice Department statement. The lawsuit doesn’t ask for a specified amount of damages.

“We intend to prove that these defendants are responsible for government removal costs, economic losses and environmental damages without limitation,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in the statement.

In addition to London-based BP, the owner of the well, defendants in the lawsuit include units of Vernier, Switzerland- based Transocean Ltd., which owned the rig, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, part owners of the well that ruptured. Anadarko is based in the Woodlands, Texas. Mitsui & Co. owns 70 percent of Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., which holds 10 percent of the field where the Macondo well is located through wholly owned U.S. subsidiary MOEX Offshore, according to the website of Mitsui Oil.

Insurer Named

BP’s insurer, an underwriting unit of Sydney, Australia- based QBE Insurance Group Ltd., also was named as a defendant, though it can only be held liable up to the amount of insurance policy coverage under the Oil Pollution Act and isn’t being sued under the Clean Water Act.

The lawsuit alleges violations of federal safety and operational regulations that caused or contributed to the oil spill that began when an explosion and fire destroyed the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the statement.

The lawsuit said violations included: failing to take necessary precautions to keep the well under control leading up to the explosion; failing to use the best and safest drilling technology to monitor well conditions; failing to maintain continuous surveillance; and failing to use and maintain equipment to ensure the safety and protection of personnel and the environment. The lawsuit said those alleged violations caused or contributed to the spill.

More Defendants

Other defendants and charges could be added later, according to a Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to comment publicly. Halliburton Co., which provided the cement to plug the well, wasn’t named as a defendant.

BP’s well in the Gulf of Mexico spilled about 4.9 million barrels of oil before it was capped on July 15, according to a report in August by a team of government and academic scientists. BP captured 800,000 barrels of oil out of the total estimate, the government said.

BP has set aside $40 billion to pay for cleanup and litigation from the spill. The company returned to profit in the third quarter with a net income of $1.8 billion after a record loss in the second quarter.

Civil Penalties

The Clean Water Act authorizes the U.S. to seek civil penalties of $1,100 per barrel of oil spilled, or in certain circumstances, as much as $4,300 per barrel from companies involved, the U.S. said in a September filing with court in New Orleans.

The U.S. also can seek damages for destruction of natural resources, loss of taxes and royalties and removal costs under the Oil Pollution Act, the government said in court papers.

The economic loss, environmental damage and personal injury suits are combined in a multidistrict litigation before U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans for pretrial organization and evidence-gathering, or discovery. Separate groups of suits by BP shareholders claiming securities fraud or mismanagement are pending before a federal judge in Houston.

The U.S. lawsuit will become part of multidistrict litigation, according to the Justice Department statement.

The case is U.S. v. BP Exploration & Production Inc., 10-04536, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans)

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net; Margaret Cronin Fisk in Southfield, Michigan, at mcfisk@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

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