What I would say is that this hasn't been reviewed or updated in 20 years. To be fair, the government has attempted to in the past, but right now it stands at $30 million and $40 million. Given what we now know about the costs of these accidents—and it hasn't just been the Deepwater Horizon; there has been a blowout in Australia and a blowout in the U.K. as well in the last three years. So while these are rare, accidents happen, and our liability limit is quite a bit lower than other countries.
On February 5th, 2013. See this statement in context.