BP faces record fine over fatal Texas refinery explosion

Beleaguered oil giant BP has agreed to pay a record $50.6m (£32.5m) fine for safety failings at its Texas City oil refinery after an explosion in 2005 which killed 15 workers.
By The Newsroom
Published 13th Aug 2010, 11:22 BST
Updated 13th Aug 2010, 11:22 BST

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said it was still working to collect another $30m (19.3m) for other penalties the company is contesting.

The fine is the largest penalty issued in OSHA's history and adds to the financial pressures on the firm which is counting the cost of the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill for which it has agreed a $20bn (12.5bn) compensation fund on top of the bill for the clean up which has already exceed $6.1bn dollars.

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About 170 people were injured in the explosion in Texas City, south of Houston, on March 23 2005.

Some 1,100 employees and 2,200 contract workers were at the refinery when the blast shot flames into the sky, forcing children in schools nearby to cower under desks and showering the the area with ash and blackened metal.

It rattled windows more than five miles from the 1,200-acre plant in Texas City.

It was the deadliest accident in the nation's gas and chemical industry since an explosion at an Arco Chemical plant in nearby Channelview killed 17 people in 1990.

In addition to paying the fine, BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to take immediate steps to protect those now working at the refinery, allocating a minimum of $500m (321m) to the effort.

Related topics:Texas