BP sues to block Gulf spill deal payment

BP has sued to block what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts. Source: AAP

BP has sued to block what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst offshore oil spill in US history.

The London-based oil giant accused the court-appointed administrator for the settlement, Patrick Juneau, of trying to rewrite the terms of the deal.

BP said Juneau violated the settlement in the way he used a complex formula to determine the payments to businesses.

Last week, BP warned investors that the settlement's price tag will be "significantly higher" than initially estimated.

BP estimated a year ago that it would spend roughly $US7.8 billion ($A7.55 billion) to resolve tens of thousands of claims covered by the settlement.

It revised its estimate earlier this year, saying it expected to pay $US8.5 billion, but now says it can't give a reliable estimate.

"Although the ultimate exposure is at this time inestimable, it grows daily and could cost BP billions," BP's lawyers wrote on Friday.

US District Judge Carl Barbier appointed Juneau and has upheld his decisions for calculating payments.

Barbier also is presiding over a trial designed to determine the causes of BP's April 2010 well blowout and assign percentages of fault to the companies involved in the disaster, which killed 11 workers and spawned the spill.

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