BP in advanced talks over Deepwater Horizon settlements

Oil major BP said it was in advanced discussions with the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) over "proposed resolutions" in connection with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

BP on Thursday said the talks covered proposed resolutions to all U.S. federal government criminal and SEC claims against BP in connection with the 2010 disaster.

The British company said no final agreements had yet been reached and any resolutions, if agreed, would be subject to federal court approvals in the U.S.

Sources told Reuters earlier on Thursday that BP was expected to pay a record criminal penalty and plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the disaster through a plea agreement it has reached with the DoJ.

The deal could resolve a significant share of the liability that BP faces after the explosion in April 2010, which killed 11 workers and fouled the shorelines of four Gulf Coast states in the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

(Reporting by Rhys Jones; editing by James Davey)