BP challenges ruling on oil spill compensation

BP Plc on Friday asked a federal judge to temporarily halt an estimated $8.5 billion settlement with plaintiffs over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, saying the claims administrator's decisions could give claimants "windfalls" and cost the oil company billions of dollars.

A filing in federal court in New Orleans said BP would be "irreparably harmed" without relief from the court.

A judge ruled March 5 that BP must keep paying certain types of oil spill compensation in much larger amounts and to more parties than the company had anticipated.