LITTLE ROCK — Transocean Ltd. will pay more than $1.4 billion, including a $400 million criminal penalty, to settle federal claims arising from the deadly explosion of one of its rigs and a resulting Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to a court filing.

Transocean will plead guilty to a single count of violating the Clean Water Act, according to a consent decree between the company and the U.S. filed Thursday in federal court in New Orleans. The company will pay $1 billion in civil penalties, plus interest on them, according to the filing.

The U.S. sued Transocean in 2010, alleging violations of federal pollution law.

Transocean was the owner and operator of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which burned and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, killing 11 workers and setting off the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Under the agreement, Transocean must establish a Technology Innovation Group to focus on drilling safety, devoting a minimum of $10 million to this effort.

“This agreement holds Transocean criminally responsible for its conduct,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement. “This resolution of criminal allegations and civil claims against Transocean brings us one significant step closer to justice for the human, environmental and economic devastation wrought by the Deepwater Horizon disaster.”

The settlement will end the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Transocean, the company said in a statement. Transocean had accrued an estimated loss contingency of $1.5 billion for claims by the Justice Department, as of Sept. 30, the company said.

The civil and criminal agreements, “which the company believes to be in the best interest of its shareholders and employees, remove much of the uncertainty associated with the accident,” Transocean said in the statement.

In addition to the deaths, the blowout and the explosion aboard Transocean’s drilling rig sent millions of barrels of crude leaking into the Gulf.

The accident prompted hundreds of lawsuits against Vernier, Switzerland-based Transocean; BP Plc, the well’s owner; and Halliburton Co., which provided cementing services.

By pleading guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act, Transocean and its affiliates “may be subject to suspension and debarment from obtaining future U.S. government contracts,” the company said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday. If suspended, Transocean said, it “may be prohibited from serving as contractors” to companies holding U.S. Department of Interior leases for offshore drilling.

“I’m glad they’re holding accountable not just BP but everybody who was responsible for the oil spill,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said in a statement. “The folks along the Gulf Coast deserve no less.” Nelson, a Florida Democrat, coauthored the RESTORE Act, which directs the lion’s share of civil fines collected as a result of the spill directly back to Gulf Coast communities for environmental and economic restoration.

BP, based in London, previously agreed to pay $4 billion to the U.S. Justice Department to resolve charges connected to the spill and $525 million to settle the SEC’s claim that the company misled investors about the rate of oil flowing into the Gulf.

Thursday’s settlement “means a great deal to Transocean in terms of removing the overhanging cloud, and getting back to business,” said Anthony Sabino, a law professor at St. John’s University in New York who specializes in complex litigation. “Since BP settled a little while ago, Transocean had moved to the unenviable spotlight as being one of the last major players here, a very undesirable status,” Sabino said.

The case is In re Oil Spill by the Oil Rig Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, MDL-2179, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana (New Orleans).

Information for this article was contributed by Phil Mattingly and Allen Johnson Jr. of Bloomberg News.

Business, Pages 23 on 01/04/2013