Haliburton's settlement this week, a senior vice president for BP added to the Times, "marks the very first time — despite three years of official investigations and litigation implicating the company — that Halliburton has acknowledged that it played a role in the accident." According to Bloomberg News, BP may next face fines as high as $18 billion — the maximum penalty under the Clean Water Act — and has already put aside $3.5 billion to cover those costs. Transocean previously agreed to pay $1.3 billion to settle federal charges, the Times added this week, but may now face higher penalties on the heels of Barbier's ruling. Ed Crooks, a reporter for the Financial Times, reported that BP is expected to appeal the decision. Shares of that company were down by as much as 5.3 percent shortly after Judge Barbier's decision was announced.