When is getting smacked with a bill for $5.15 billion a good thing? When the bill could have been $14.5 billion. That’s the good news for Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) today after it announced an agreement with plaintiffs in a lawsuit dating to the 2009 bankruptcy of chemicals maker Tronox Inc.

Tronox Inc. was spun off Kerr-McGee Corp. in 2005 and Kerr-McGee was acquired by Anadarko in June 2006 for about $18 billion including debt. Tronox sued Anadarko claiming that Kerr-McGee had improperly ladled 85 years worth of environmental liabilities onto Tronox in order to clean itself up for the Anadarko takeover.

Anadarko’s CEO said:

This settlement agreement with the Litigation Trust and the U.S. Government eliminates the uncertainty this dispute has created, and the proceeds will fund the remediation and cleanup of the legacy environmental liabilities and tort claims. Investor focus can now return to the tremendous value embedded in Anadarko’s asset base, allowing our peer-leading operational and exploration results to again become the basis for valuation. We are grateful to our stakeholders who have maintained their confidence and trust in our people and our assets.

When the bankruptcy court ruled in favor of Tronox in December, the remaining issue between the litigants was whether or not a $10.459 billion offset should have been allowed Anadarko. Apparently Tronox was persuaded because the judge in the case calculated that if the offset was allowed, Anadarko would pay $5.15 billion compared with $14.166 billion if the offset was not allowed. Anadarko and Tronox were scheduled to meet in court again on Friday.

Anadarko’s shares are up nearly 15% Thursday afternoon at $99.19 after posting a new 52-week high of $99.55. The stock’s 52-week low is $73.60.

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