A Louisiana-based oil company has to pay $43 million in civil penalties and damages and $432 million to transfer to the Department of the Interior a clean-up trust fund to take responsibility for a spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

According to the Department's statement, Taylor Energy's former Gulf of Mexico offshore oil production facility is the source of the country's longest-running oil disaster in US history, which has been ongoing since 2004.

Taylor must dismiss three existing lawsuits presented against the federal government under the settlement agreement, which is subject to final court approval. It does not, however, claim any responsibility.

According to the New York Times, hurricane Ivan produced a mudslide, causing the Taylor production platform to collapse, with 16 of the 25 damaged subsea wells leaking since then.

The newspaper added that Taylor could cap the others but couldn't do so because they were "buried under so much mud and debris."

What does that mean?

"Despite being a catalyst for beneficial environmental technological innovation, the damage to our ecosystem caused by this 17-year-old oil spill is unacceptable," said Duane Evans, US attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Taylor "sold its oil and gas assets in 2008 and ceased all drilling and production operations," according to a website statement. It now exists today solely to respond to the spill.

At a later point, a district court will decide whether to approve the settlement's proposed consent decree.