Ellington

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has ordered a two-week delay of the second phase of a trial over BP's 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier on Friday moved the start of the second phase from Sept. 16 to Sept. 30 to give the parties in the litigation more time to prepare.

Testimony for the trial's first phase ended in April. It was intended to identify the causes of the blowout of BP's Macondo well and assign fault to the companies involved.

The second phase is designed to determine how much crude spilled into the Gulf and examine BP's efforts to stop the flow of oil.

Barring a settlement, Barbier could decide how much more money BP and its contractors owe for the deadly disaster.