Anadarko Petroleum Corp. agreed to pay $5.15 billion to settle fraud claims from a 2006 acquisition, making it the largest environmental settlement won by the U.S. government, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The deal extracted a much heavier price than Anadarko had envisioned, but investors rejoiced at the resolution of a liability that could have run as high as $14 billion. The settlement spares Anadarko from further litigation involving Tronox Inc., a chemical maker once owned by a subsidiary of the company, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Tronox and federal prosecutors claimed that Kerr-McGee Corp. spun off its chemicals unit into Tronox just before being acquired by Anadarko. They alleged this move unfairly saddled Tronox with liabilities that ultimately bankrupted it in 2009 and allowed Anadarko to skirt environmental obligations.
