Transocean to Pay $1.4 Billion in Gulf Spill Accord Transocean has agreed to pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties for its role in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in 2010, the Department of Justice just announced. Under a federal court settlement, it will also plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act. And Transocean will have to take steps to improve safety and emergency response procedures on its drilling rigs. Transocean owned and operated the drilling rig that was in the gulf when a well blew out in April 2010, killing 11 people and causing billions of dollars of damages in a spill that continued for three months. But far more of the culpability has been assigned to BP, which was in charge of the drilling operation. "Transocean's rig crew accepted the direction of BP well site leaders to proceed in the face of clear danger signs - at a tragic cost to many of them," said Lanny A. Breuer, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's criminal division. It was the worst offshore oil spill in the nation's history.