Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, has agreed to pay $1.4 billion (£900m) over five years for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The multinational exploration company, which leased the rig to oil giant BP, pleaded guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act (CWA) for “negligent discharge of oil” into the Gulf of Mexico.

The accident in April 2010 killed 11 workers and the well spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf for 87 days.

The deal with the US Department of Justice comes after BP agreed to pay $4 billion (£2.8bn) in November last year over criminal charges relating to the disaster.

Transocean will also pay $150 million (£94m) to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) over a five-year period for the “purposes of oil spill prevention and response in the Gulf of Mexico” and another $150 million (£94m) to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) over a three-year period for “natural resource restoration projects and coastal habitat restoration”.