Nearing the end of a lengthy legal battle and with a chance at another shot producing in the Arctic, BP may be starting to see long-awaited signs of recovery.

Finally, BP’s settlement of $7.8 billion to resolve the more than 100,000 claims by individuals and businesses stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill has been granted preliminary court approval. The accord in question covers both economic as well as medical claims against the company.

However, despite this good news, BP is not out of the woods yet. The settlement in question does not cover claims by the U.S. Government or Gulf Coast states, nor does it eradicate the disputes the company is still involved in with its drilling partners.

Once the fairness trial concludes later this year, a comprehensive trial to deal with the remaining issues will begin. BP asked that this trial be postponed until after the fairness hearing in order to avoid overlapping or parallel actions. A decision regarding whether or not the trial will in fact be postponed is yet to be reached.

As a result of the BP oil spill scandal, BP profits have fallen. The company’s profits in the first quarter dropped by 13%. This was unexpected despite the fact that the company had to sell several fields in order to pay for the Gulf of Mexico spill damages, and this in turn caused crude prices to rise significantly.To continue reading, click here.