Oil giant BP has sent a formal request to the U.S. Supreme Court asking judges to hear its appeal of a lower court ruling on compensation over the infamous 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The British oil company has filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to enforce requirements for claimants to prove they had suffered economic losses in the oil spill, energy business news provider Fuelfix reported Sunday.

Earlier, a federal court in New Orleans upheld the lower court's ruling that businesses do not have to prove they were directly harmed by the 2010 oil spill to collect from the settlement. The court rejected reconsidering the case after BP filed an appeal.

BP then decided to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, though filing a request does not necessarily guarantee a hearing. According to media reports, the Supreme Court hears arguments in 75 to 80 of the 10,000 appeals it gets each year.

In its petition, BP argued that some businesses and individuals who did not suffer from the oil spill took advantage of the settlement program and tried to claim money from the company.

On April 20, 2010, BP's Deepwater Horizon drill platform caught fire and exploded, killing 11 workers and triggering one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history.

BP said it had so far paid more than 26 billion U.S. dollars in cleanup costs and damage claims to individuals, businesses and governments. Endi

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