BP is set to assume a further $1.7bn post-tax impairment charge on expenses for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which will take the total cost of the disaster borne by the company to more than $65bn.

The charge will be included in the company’s fourth-quarter report.

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This spill continues to affect the company even after eight years.

The settlement claims so far has costed the company around seven times more than its original estimation.

Nearly 400,000 cases were filed by businesses against the company. Of these, several hundreds of claims are yet to be closed, thereby increasing the chances of expenses growing further than anticipated.

The court has reviewed over 99% of the cases, some of which, according to the company, are false.

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Last September, the firm paid around $63.4bn as clean-up costs and legal fees. The incident had  killed 11 rig workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil into the sea.

“The claims facility’s work very nearly done, we now have better visibility into the remaining liability.”

In 2015, the company had come to a $19bn settlement for federal and state claims. In 2016, BP assumed a $2.5bn charge after settling several claims.

The London-based company’s chief financial officer was quoted by Reuters as saying that “with the claims facility’s work very nearly done, we now have better visibility into the remaining liability.”

Due to the latest charge, BP’s cash payments could touch $3bn this year compared with the earlier estimate of $2bn. This charge would cover payouts to businesses affected by the spill. The payments in 2017 stood at around $5.5bn.

Even though the settlements of claims have been higher than anticipated, BP expects these to be manageable due to revenue increase as a result of steady growth in oil prices.