BP has secured a victory in its battle to limit compensation payouts for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill after a US court ordered tighter rules on dubious claims.
A federal appeals court said the terms of a compensation agreement struck with BP last year should be reviewed to help stem bogus or inflated claims for damage by businesses.
It approved an injunction against payments made to firms that have not suffered actual loss in a move that could save BP hundreds of millions of dollars.
BP recently said it believed the group had paid out more than $1 billion (£616 million) of fake claims and vowed to stand up for shareholders against a flood of "absurd" compensation payments.
An explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform in 2010 killed 11 men and sparked the worst spill in US history.
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