The civil trial regarding the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history continued Tuesday morning in New Orleans.  The energy company, BP, is fighting a $13.7 billion fine from the government as penalty for violating the federal Clean Water Act from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill on April 20, 2010.

The penalty is the largest ever sought by the government, breaking the record set by Transocean Ltd. Transocean owned the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people, in the same April 2010 disaster, Los Angeles Times reports. The Clean Water Act says, when assigning penalties, the court must consider BP's ability to pay, history of past violations and the steps taken for the spill cleanup

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier will evaluate the final cost of the fine. Barbier ruled in September BP was largely responsible for the disaster. The cost of the fines is based on the amount of barrels spilled into the water. There's a statutory limit of $4,300 per barrel. BP has asked for the fines to be capped at $3,000 per barrel, according to Reuters. 

Barbier ruled 3.19 million barrels of oil poured out of the well, despite government estimates of 4.09 million barrels. This meant  BP avoided facing a total of $17.6 billion in finesThe oil conglomerate so far has paid an estimated $42 billion for spill response and cleanup and more than $4 billion to settle criminal charges.

Oil continued to pour out of BP well for three months until it was capped July 15, 2010, and finally sealed in September. Beaches and wetlands stretching from Texas to Florida were harmed in the oil spill. Many small businesses experienced huge losses because of the spill.