A federal judge in Alaska has ordered Exxon Mobil to pay $4.5 billion in punitive damages plus $2.25 billion in interest because of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill.
The Texas-based company, the world's largest publicly-traded oil company, is expected to appeal the ruling.
The Exxon Valdez hit rocks, spilling some 240,000 barrels of crude oil off Alaskan shores in Prince William Sound, on March 24th 1989.
