The article analyses the legal consequences of the accident on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. The author investigates the existing mechanism for compensation for sea oil pollution damage established by the Convention on Liability for Oil Pollution at Sea – CLC Convention and the Convention on the Establishment of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund. The paper examines the shortcomings of compensation for damages for oil pollution at sea established by the aforementioned acts and the reasons for the non-application of the CLC Convention in this litigation. Based on the dispute, it examines how the domestic law of the United States is applied in resolving oil spill cases.