The court in the northwestern Spanish city of A Coruña also said the regional government of Galicia, off whose coast the Prestige tanker sank, be compensated 1.8 million euros and neighbouring France, which was also affected, 61 million euros.
The ship's Greek captain Apostolos Mangouras and British insurers The London P&I Club were ordered to pay one billion dollars, the court said in a statement -- the maximum limit fixed by the company in its contract for the ship.
The rest must be paid by ship owner Mare Shipping Inc. and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, a grouping of two inter-governmental organizations that provide compensation for environmental damage resulting from spills.
The Prestige tanker ran into trouble in rough seas in November 2002. Six days later, damaged and adrift, it broke in two and sank off the coast of Galicia.
The accident saw 63,000 tonnes of oil spill into the sea and blacken 2,980 kilometres (1,852 miles) of shoreline in Spain, France and Portugal with sludge.
The spill caused huge damage to wildlife and the environment, as well as to the region's fishing industry, leading to an international cleanup effort.
Government criticized
The court also awarded damages to more than 260 other aggrieved parties such as town halls, but has yet to publish the total amount.
The total cost of the damage had been estimated at 4.1 billion euros.
In January 2016, Spain's Supreme Court sentenced the captain to two years' jail, accusing him of "gross negligence" for having sailed at a time when bad weather was possible, knowing that the ship was old and that the automatic pilot no longer worked, for instance.
Environmental campaigners Greenpeace said the captain was made a "scapegoat". They complained that other key players in the disaster were not in the dock -- including current Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who was deputy prime minister at the time.
His conservative Popular Party government had ordered the Prestige out to sea away from the Spanish coast instead of following an emergency plan that called for it to be brought to port where the leaking oil could be confined.
Tanker in bad shape
Among evidence provided in the latest court case were notes from the Prestige's former captain, Stratos Kostazos, who had complained the tanker was in bad shape and had refused to sail in it.
The Supreme Court said that two major energy companies -- Spain's Repsol and Britain's BP -- had advised against using the Prestige tanker, a 26-year-old vessel with a carrying capacity of 81,000 tonnes.
It added that a man who had worked for the company that managed the Prestige said the owners of the ship knew what state it was in and had dispatched it to Saint Petersburg to "die."
"But... it was decided it would make another sea crossing, which really was its final one," the Supreme Court said in its January 2016 ruling.
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Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A Spanish court ruled a British insurer should pay a $1 billion fine for its role in the 2002 Prestige oil spill.
The court Wednesday awarded Spain $1.9 billion in damages for the oil spill while also granting $2.1 billion in compensation to the region of Galicia and $72 million to France.
The spill, regarded as one of Europe's most devastating environmental disasters, occurred in 2002 when the Prestige oil tanker sank off the coast of Spain and split in half, polluting thousands of miles of beach and severely damaging wildlife and the fishing industry.
The ship spilled more than 60,000 tons of oil and more than 22,000 dead birds were found in the immediate aftermath.
The London Steam-Ship Owners' Mutual Insurance Association, also known as the London Club, insured the Prestige and will be required to pay up to $1 billion and the ship's Greek captain will face a similar fine.
Mare Shipping, the ship's owner and the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, will pay the remainder.
A spokesman for the London Club said the firm was aware of the ruling and "remains concerned at the direction that the Spanish court has taken generally."
"There are several complicated and outstanding legal issues that need to be addressed," he said.
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Spain's Supreme Court said on Tuesday it had found the captain, the British insurer and the owner of the Prestige tanker that sank in 2002 liable for a devastating oil spill, one of Europe's worst environmental disasters.
Reversing an earlier decision acquitting the ship's captain, Apostolos Mangouras, the court sentenced the skipper to two years' jail and also found a mutual insurance company The London P&I Club liable for the disaster, as well as ship owner Mare Shipping Inc.
The Prestige tanker ran into trouble in rough seas in November 2002.
Six days later, damaged and adrift, it broke in two and sank off the coast of Galicia.
The accident saw 63,000 tonnes of oil spill into the sea and blacken 2,980 kilometres (1,852 miles) of shoreline in Spain, France and Portugal with sludge.
The spill caused huge damage to wildlife and the environment, as well as to the region's fishing industry, polluting more than a thousand beaches and leading to an international cleanup effort.
A Spanish court in 2013 acquitted Mangouras and the ship's chief engineer, both of them Greek, as well as a senior Spanish official, of environmental crimes over the wreck, arguing they did not act intentionally or with serious negligence.
But the Supreme Court revoked the acquittal for Mangouras, accusing him of "gross negligence" for having sailed at a time when bad weather was possible, knowing that the ship was old and that the automatic pilot no longer worked, for instance.
The London P&I Club, meanwhile, could be liable for up to $1 billion (€920 million), though no sum has yet been decided.
The 2013 acquittal of the captain had caused an uproar.
Greenpeace had said that the decision provided "a carte blanche to the oil industry to threaten the environment and citizens".
And Spain's State Prosecutor Luis Navajas, who asked the Supreme Court to overturn the acquittal in September, called the decision "flawed" and "notoriously wrong."
"The prestige of Spain as a state that defends its coasts and its economic wealth was called into question by this decision," he argued.
Among the evidence he said had been overlooked were notes from the Prestige's former captain, Stratos Kostazos, who had complained that the tanker was in bad shape and who had refused to sail in it.
The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that two major energy companies - Spain's Repsol and Britain's BP - had advised against using the Prestige tanker, a 26-year-old vessel with a carrying capacity of 81,000 tonnes.
Mangouras' seamanship was not only dangerous, "he also created a serious risk, particularly with regards to the highly-polluting nature of the substance he was transporting," it concluded.