Oil spill fund audit finds underpayments of $64 million

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An audit of the $20 billion fund for paying victims of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill found "significant errors" that led to about 7,300 claimants who were underpaid receiving an extra $64 million, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility was set up initially to compensate fishermen, hotel owners, property owners and others for losses from explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and subsequent oil spill from the BP Plc well.

The independent audit, conducted by BDO Consulting, also found that some claimants were overpaid, but that the GCCF was not seeking to recover that money, according to the Justice Department which had sought the audit.

(Reporting By Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Gary Hill)