Alabama National Guard helps contain the spill (courtesy Creative Commons)

A judge said Sunday that BP PLC was making progress in settlement talks with the committee overseeing numerous lawsuits, reports USA Today. The committee is overseeing the lawsuits filed by both individuals and businesses after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico.

The decision was made during a conference call between the two parties and U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier.

The trial, now scheduled for March 5, will determine how much needs to be paid by BP and other companies involved. It will likely be billions of dollars. It was originally supposed to begin Monday.

BP has also been talking with the federal government and cement contractor Halliburton, according to USA Today.

If a settlement is not reached, Barbier will preside over the three-phase resulting trial. The first phase will identify causes of the explosion and assign percentages of fault to the companies involved.

The second phase will address efforts to contain the spill. The third part will focus on the clean up efforts, according to The Daily Beast.

In addition to BP, Transocean and Halliburton are also being sued.

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