BP America announces resolution of Texas City, Alaska, propane trading, law enforcement investigations

HOUSTON, TX -- America today announced two plea agreements and a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and a consent order with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission which end governmental investigation of company wrongdoing on matters related to the March 2005 explosion and fire at the Texas City refinery, the March and August 2006 oil transit line spills in Alaska and improper propane trading in April 2003 and February 2004.

“These agreements are an admission that, in these instances, our operations failed to meet our own standards and the requirements of the law. For that, we apologize,” said BP America Chairman and President Bob Malone. "They represent an absolute commitment to work with the government as we continue our efforts to prevent another tragedy like Texas City, to make our Prudhoe Bay pipeline corrosion program more responsive to changing operating conditions and to ensure that our participation in the nation’s energy markets is always appropriate.

“In the months and years since these violations occurred, we have made real progress in the areas of process safety performance and risk management. Oversight of our trading operations has also been greatly enhanced. However, there is more to do and we are committed to doing it,” Malone said.
Texas City
BP Products North America Inc. will plead guilty to a felony for failing to have adequate written procedures for maintaining the ongoing mechanical integrity of process equipment at the Texas City refinery and for failing to inform contractors of the hazards related to their occupancy of temporary trailers in the vicinity of the refinery’s Isomerization Unit.

BP Products has agreed to a $50 million fine and three years probation. The agreement requires BP Products to continue its cooperation with the government’s ongoing investigation of the circumstances leading to the March 23, 2005 Texas City refinery explosion and fire which claimed the lives of 15 workers and injured hundreds more. The agreement also requires, as a condition of probation, compliance with all terms of the September 2005 Settlement Agreement with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the June 2006 Agreed Order issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Under the agreement the Justice Department agrees not to bring additional criminal charges against BP Products in connection with the March 2005 explosion.
“If our approach to process safety and risk management had been more disciplined and comprehensive, this tragedy could have been prevented,” Malone said. “We did not provide our people with systems and processes that would have enabled them to appreciate the risk of a catastrophic release from the F20 blowdown stack and understand the danger of placing occupied trailers so close to it. We deeply regret the loss of life, the injuries and the community disruption caused by the explosion.”

BP Product’s response to the Texas City explosion and fire has been guided by the recommendations of its own incident investigation and by the findings and recommendations of OSHA, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and the BP U.S. Refineries Independent Safety Review Panel, led by former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker, III.

BP America is in the midst of a comprehensive effort to improve its safety culture and to strengthen and standardize process safety and risk management programs at all BP-operated facilities.

At the Texas City refinery, BP Products eliminated the use of blow down systems like the one involved in the March 2005 explosion and removed temporary occupied structures (office trailers) from process areas. The refinery is expected to return to near full production by the end of 2007 after a 25-month, $1 billion renewal program that included the inspection and refurbishment of every major process unit in the refinery and extensive re-training of refinery personnel.
Alaska
BP Exploration Alaska, Inc. (BPXA) will plead guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the U.S. Federal Water Pollution Control Act and admits, in the plea agreement, that the company’s approach to monitoring and managing corrosion in Prudhoe Bay oil transit lines failed to properly consider the risks posed by changing operating conditions in the field and that, as a result, BPXA failed to take necessary actions to prevent the March 2006 pipeline spill.

BPXA has agreed to a $12 million fine and 3 years probation. Under the agreement, BPXA will also pay restitution of $4 million to the State of Alaska, which has agreed not to prosecute the company, and make a $4 million payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for Arctic environmental research.

The Justice Department and State of Alaska have agreed not to bring further criminal charges against BPXA in connection with the March and August 2006 spills.

The leak and the resulting 4,800 barrel spill impacted 1.9 acres and is the largest oil spill to ever occur at Prudhoe Bay. The plea agreement acknowledges that BPXA promptly and thoroughly cleaned up the discharged oil. No lasting harm to the surrounding environment is expected.

“This leak, and the spill that resulted from it, revealed a significant gap in our corrosion management program -- a gap that existed because our approach to assessing and managing corrosion risk in these lines was not robust or systematic enough,” Malone said.
“We regret that our monitoring of these lines did not meet the expectations of the State of Alaska and the U.S. government,” Malone said. “Since this incident we have worked with state and federal regulators to ensure the safe, reliable operation of critical Prudhoe Bay pipelines which deliver processed oil to the Trans Alaska pipeline.”

Following the March spill, BPXA worked with the U.S. Department of Transportation to make periodic maintenance and smart pigging part of BPXA’s oil transit line corrosion inspection, monitoring and inhibition program.

BPXA will complete replacement of the 16-mile Prudhoe Bay oil transit line system in 2008. BPXA began construction of the $250 million project in early 2007.
April 2003, February 2004 propane trades
BP America has entered a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the U.S. Justice Department under which the company admits that it manipulated the price of February 2004 TET physical propane and attempted to manipulate the price of TET propane in April 2003. The DPA concludes all criminal investigations of BP America on matters related to propane, gasoline, crude oil and other commodity trading.

BP Products North America Inc. also has entered a companion consent order with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) resolving all civil enforcement matters concerning the company’s propane and gasoline trading.

BP America will pay fines, penalties and restitution totaling just over $303.5 million, including $53.5 million to a victim restitution fund, a criminal penalty of $100 million, a civil penalty of $125 million and a $25 million payment to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Consumer Fraud Fund.

The DPA has a term of three years. Charges will be dismissed at the end of the term following Justice Department determination that BP America has complied with the terms of the DPA. The DPA requires BP America’s continued cooperation with the U.S. government investigation of the trades in question.

The DPA will result in the appointment of an independent monitor to make sure BP America has appropriate trading compliance policies and programs in place, that the policies and programs are implemented appropriately, and that they are being enforced. The independent monitor will have authority to investigate and report alleged violations of the Commodity Exchange Act or CFTC regulations and to recommend corrective action.
BP America conducted its own investigation and cooperated with the Justice Department and the CFTC investigations of propane trading in April 2003 and February 2004. The February 2004 TET propane trades resulted in a loss of $10 million to the company.

“Our view of the legality of these trades changed as our knowledge of the facts surrounding them became more complete,” Malone said. “This settlement acknowledges our failure to adequately oversee our trading operation. The agreement provides compensation for victims and establishes a foundation for working with the government to ensure our participation in the nation’s energy markets is always appropriate. We are determined to restore the trust of regulators in our trading operations.”

After investigating the propane trades, BP America developed an enhanced compliance program specifically fit for the trading organization; increased compliance and legal resources; enhanced training for traders; upgraded transaction monitoring capability and improved metrics to measure compliance performance.