Texas Urges Justices to Bar Anadarko’s $8.5 Million Tax Windfall

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. isn’t entitled to a $8.5 million franchise tax refund because it improperly deducted $4 billion in settlement funds paid to BP PLC after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the state told the Texas Supreme Court.

Anadarko sought to deduct the payment—which BP used to pay people injured by the incident—as costs of goods sold. Anadarko asked the justices in July to overturn a 2023 state appeals court ruling that the payments covered tort liabilities, not general expenses for the cleanup.

State law doesn’t include tort damage payments in the list of subtractible costs of goods sold, but ...