LONDON: BP said on Tuesday it expected to take a post-tax non-operating charge of around US$1.7 billion in its fourth quarter results as part of the settlement of the deadly 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the United States.

BP said the Court Supervised Settlement Program set up in the wake of the disaster was now winding down.

“With the claims facility’s work very nearly done, we now have better visibility into the remaining liability,” said Brian Gilvary, BP’s chief financial officer.

“The charge we are taking as a result is fully manageable within our existing financial framework, especially now that we have the company back into balance at US$50 per barrel.”