The ruling by the ninth US Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California was consistent with the figure suggested by the Supreme Court last year. It also awarded plaintiffs 5.9 percent interest starting from the date of the original trial judgment in September 1996.

The cumulative amount of the interest payments could nearly double the 507.5-million-dollar fine.

But the figure is still a small fraction of the five billion dollars in damages Alaska natives, fishermen, business owners and others had originally been awarded by a jury in 1996. That amount was later reduced following appeals by Exxon, which is based in Irving, Texas.

"In this case, neither side is a clear winner," the court said in its ruling.

"The defendant owes the plaintiffs 507.5 million dollars in punitives -- according to the counsel at oral argument the fourth largest punitive damages award ever granted. Yet that award represents a reduction by 90 percent of the original five billion dollars."

The appeals court also ordered that the parties pay for their own attorney fees and court costs, adding another 70 million dollars in fees for the oil giant.

The March 1989 oil spill from an Exxon Valdez supertanker poured 50,000 tonnes of oil into Prince William Sound, on Alaska's south coast.

Exxon Mobil spent nearly 3.4 billion dollars to clean up the spill, the worst in US history, as well as to put an end to criminal proceedings and compensate fishermen and other business owners.

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