The federal judge presiding over the massive litigation surrounding the Deepwater Horizon oil spill yesterday postponed for a week the trial that had been due to start today over who bears responsibility for the disaster.

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier of the Eastern District of Louisiana pushed the start date back to March 5 in order to give BP PLC, the principle defendant, more time to negotiate a settlement.

In an order, Barbier said the delay was "for reasons of judicial efficiency and to allow the parties to make further progress in their settlement discussions."

The trial, the first of three Barbier has planned, is due to focus on events leading up to the April 20, 2010, explosion and its immediate aftermath. There have been rumblings for several weeks concerning a possible settlement. Those murmurs only got louder when MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, which had a 10 percent stake in the doomed Macondo well, announced on Feb. 17 a provisional settlement with the federal government in which it will pay $90 million.

Barbier's order did not reference whether the settlement discussions were with the federal government or the multitude of private plaintiffs -- whose interests are represented by a group of attorneys called the plaintiffs' steering committee -- or both. The committee -- known as the PSC -- and BP issued a joint statement yesterday that suggested the delay was because of their negotiations and not talks with the government.

"This adjournment is intended to allow BP and the PSC more time to continue settlement discussions and attempt to reach an agreement," the statement said.

The brief announcement made it clear no agreement is guaranteed.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

A proposed settlement would likely increase the pressure on Congress to pass the RESTORE Act, legislation that would steer the majority of any penalties the federal government recovers to Gulf states (Greenwire, Feb. 23).