For your free newsletter click here 20 June 2013

 

Article archive for BP plc

BP says USCG has ended Deepwater Horizon active cleanup operations (11 June 2013)
A BP statement issued on June 10 says the US Coast Guard is ending active cleanup operations in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and announced that the three states are expected to complete the transition back to the National Response Center (NRC) reporting system by mid June 2013. read more...

TAQA completes acquisition of BP's North Sea assets (07 June 2013)
Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (TAQA) has completed the acquisition of BP's UK North Sea oil and gas assets giving the Abu Dhabi-based energy company control of the Harding field. The acquisition is expected to add 20,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) of production, Taqa said in a statement. read more...

BP challenges 'spurious’ claims from Macondo oil spill (21 May 2013)
Oil major BP has petitioned a US court regarding the company’s payouts stemming from its 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, accusing a judge of allowing “absurd” compensation claims. BP wants to halt payouts, amounting to millions of dollars, in what it calls “spurious” compensation claims to victims of the spill.   read more...

Leak at BP platform in Norwegian North Sea could have caused major accident - PSA (29 April 2013)
The Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), Norway's oil safety watchdog, said BP must review the way it handles risk and maintenance at its offshore oil platforms in Norwegian waters following a leak at a North Sea platform last year that the PSA said could have caused a major accident. The platform was evacuated, but no one was injured in the incident. read more...

BP faces new $1bn Texas City refinery lawsuit (17 April 2013)
Courthouse News says 474 plaintiffs have launched a case against BP alleging a 15-day release of toxic chemicals in 2011 when the company still owned the refinery had damaged their health. The plaintiffs sued BP Products North America and refinery manager Keith Casey for more than $1 billion in punitive damages in Galveston County Court. read more...

BP and partners announce $500m Clair field appraisal (02 April 2013)
A BP-led consortium is to invest more than $500m (£330m) in an appraisal drilling programme which could lead to further development of a giant Atlantic field. Drilling had already started on the first of five wells planned over the next two years at Clair, west of Shetland. Up to 12 wells could be drilled, depending on initial results. read more...

Iran sanctions may force BP to shut down North Sea gas field (28 March 2013)
BP said on March 26 it may decide to shut down the Bruce natural gas field in the UK North Sea earlier than planned unless a way is found to restart production at the adjoining Rhum field, which is shut down because of sanctions against Iran. read more...

North Africa: A riskier environment (15 March 2013)
Two months after the attack on the BP-operated In Amenas gas facility in the Algerian Sahara is a good time to take stock of the likely consequences of the upsurge in terrorism in this region. The incident, which left at least 37 hostages and 29 terrorists dead, will have serious consequences for foreign companies investing and operating in North Africa and beyond. read more...

Third BP Energy Outlook forecast sees worldwide energy demand up 36% by 2030 (14 March 2013)
BP Energy Outlook 2030, the third annual energy forecast by the UK-based major, expects growth in global energy demand to be 36% higher in 2030 than 2011, with almost all the growth coming from emerging economies.  read more...

Transocean says BP’s actions extended Macondo leak duration by two months (04 March 2013)
The owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, destroyed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, says BP hampered efforts to stop the resulting gusher of oil by misleading government officials about how much oil was flowing from the damaged well on the sea floor. read more...

BP to contest US government charges of gross negligence over Macondo blowout and spill (21 February 2013)
UK-based oil major BP has said it will “vigorously defend” itself against allegations in the Deepwater Horizon federal civil trial due to start in the US District Court in Louisiana on February 25. The trial is the last major hurdle in BP's efforts to move beyond the April 2010 disaster, which resulted in 11 deaths and the largest oil spill in US history. read more...

US judge agrees to $4bn criminal settlement from BP over Gulf spill (01 February 2013)
On January 29 a US federal judge accepted BP's agreement to plead guilty to charges of manslaughter and lying to Congress and to pay a record fine related to the April 2010 Macondo well oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst offshore spill in US history. read more...

BP Energy Outlook 2030 says shale gas will have limited impact in UK and Europe (22 January 2013)
BP chief economist Christof Rühl, quoted in the oil major's Energy Outlook 2030 forecast, said the group foresaw “extremely limited growth” in shale gas in Europe. “Europe has various problems: environmental concerns, outright bans on fracking, a lack of infrastructure and a long tradition of not minding so much having to import things,” he said. read more...

Algerian gas plant: death toll rises (21 January 2013)
According to a Reuters report on January 21, the hostage death toll from the four-day siege at the In Amenas natural gas plant in Eastern Algeria has risen to almost 60. The plant, operated by Sonatrach of Algeria, UK-based oil major BP and Statoil of Norway, was attacked by a group of Al Qaeda-linked terrorists on January 16 and was finally retaken by Algerian security forces on January 19. read more...

Many hostages and kidnappers reported killed by Algerian forces at In Amenas gas plant (17 January 2013)
News agencies are saying that many people have been killed after Algerian forces opened fire on a vehicle at the remote Tigantourine gas plant near In Amenas, Eastern Algeria, where gunmen were holding dozens of Western hostages. An unnamed resident told Reuters there were many bodies at the scene but he did not say whether they were kidnappers, hostages or both. read more...

Two reported killed in kidnapping at BP gas field in Algeria (16 January 2013)
Islamist militants attacked a gas production field in southern Algeria on January 15, kidnapping at least nine foreigners and killing two people during a dawn raid, local and company officials said. An al-Qaida-linked group operating in the Sahara said it had carried out the raid on the In Amenas facility, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported. read more...

Transocean settles with US Department of Justice over Deepwater Horizon (04 January 2013)
The company that owned the Deepwater Horizon rig and lost 11 workers in the explosion on 20 April, 2010, will pay $1bn in civil fines and a further $400m in criminal penalties in a settlement announced on January 3. Transocean's agreement with the Department of Justice (DoJ) still has to be approved by a federal judge. read more...

BP Cooper River: Making it personal (18 December 2012)
Located within 30 kilometres (20 miles) of Charleston in South Carolina, BP Cooper River is one of three US sites in BP’s petrochemicals portfolio and has become a role model within the group for the way it has made safety and risk management relevant for the frontline. Amanda Breen of BP Magazine reports. read more...

BP temporarily banned from new US government contracts [Updated 29/11/12] (28 November 2012)
BP has been temporarily banned from winning new contracts with the US government, because of the British oil giant's "lack of business integrity" over its handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has announced. In a subsequent statement, BP said the suspension did not affect existing contracts. read more...

BP to sell package of central North Sea assets to TAQA for $1.1 Billion (28 November 2012)
BP announced on November 28 that it has agreed to sell its interests in the BP-operated Maclure, Harding and Devenick fields and non-operated interests in the Brae complex of fields and the Braemar field to TAQA (Abu Dhabi National Energy Co) for $1.058 billion plus future payments which, dependent on oil price and production, BP currently expects will exceed $250 million. read more...

PSA Norway gives BP one month improvement deadline following Ula hydrocarbon leak (27 November 2012)
On November 26, Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority issued a notification order in connection with the investigation of the hydrocarbon leak on the Ula field's P platform on 12 September 2012. Conditions were identified in relation to the fire and explosion protection that do not comply with regulatory requirements. read more...

BP agrees $4.5bn penalty in Deepwater Horizon settlement with US government (16 November 2012)
BP announced on November 14 that it has come to an agreement with the US government to resolve all federal criminal charges and all Securities and Exchange Commission claims connected to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in April 2010. read more...

BP settles with Russian TNK-BP partners (16 November 2012)
BP has agreed to pay its partners in the TNK-BP joint venture $325 million as part of a wide-ranging settlement deal announced earlier on November 12, Dow Jones said, quoting “a person familiar with the matter”. read more...

No injuries in large fire at BP's Texas City refinery (02 November 2012)
BP said a fire that broke out on October 30 in a residual hydrotreater at the company's 400,780 barrel-per-day Texas City refinery was extinguished within hours and resulted in no injuries. A part of the refinery was evacuated in the incident, a company spokesman said. read more...

BP sells TNK-BP stake to Rosneft (22 October 2012)
BP says it has agreed to sell its 50% stake in TNK-BP to Russia's Rosneft in return for cash and shares. The UK-based group will receive $17.1bn (£10.7bn) cash and an initial 12.84% stake in Rosneft, and will use some of the cash in future to buy further Rosneft shares, taking its stake to 19.75%. This will enable BP to continue to share in Russia's vast energy resources. read more...

BP to sell Texas City Refinery to Marathon Petroleum (09 October 2012)
BP has confirmed earlier rumours that it will sell its Texas City Refinery to Marathon Petroleum Corporation for $2.5 Billion, raising the total for its post-Macondo recovery fund to over $35 billion out of its total goal of $38 billion. The deal includes part of its retail and logistics network in the Southeast US.  read more...

BP to sell Texas City refinery by year-end (24 September 2012)
BP said on September 19 it was in advanced talks with potential purchasers for its Texas City refinery and expected to sell it before the end of the year. There are unconfirmed reports that talks are most advanced with US oil group Marathon Petroleum and the final price will be close to $2.5bn (£1.5bn). read more...

BP sells stake in Draugen field (14 September 2012)
BP announced on September 13 that it has agreed to sell its 18.36% non-operated interest in the Draugen field in the Norwegian Sea to AS Norske Shell for $240 million in cash. In a press release, the group said this agreement was a further example of the active management of its portfolio in the North Sea, focusing investment on high value assets with long term growth potential, while realising the value of non-core assets.  read more...

BP sells more deep-water assets in Gulf of Mexico (10 September 2012)
BP has sold a further tranche of assets to cover the cost of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Texas-based Plains Exploration has bought the Gulf oil and gas assets - which do not include the site of the 2010 disaster - for $5.55bn (£3.46bn). The sale is part of a substantial offloading of assets by BP: since 2010, it has agreed sales totalling more than $32bn (£20bn). read more...

BP sells US refinery and fuel retail network in latest asset divestment (14 August 2012)
On August 13, BP said it had reached agreement to sell its Carson, California refinery and related logistics and marketing assets in the region to Tesoro Corporation for $2.5 billion in cash, as part of a previously announced plan to reshape BP’s US fuels business. This announcement brings the total value of the divestments that BP has agreed since the beginning of 2010 to $26.5 billion. read more...

BP and Osha resolve majority of Texas City refinery citations (18 July 2012)
BP Products North America Inc. announced on July 12 that it has reached an agreement with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to settle 409 of the 439 remaining citations issued to the BP Texas City Refinery in 2009. “BP is committed to workplace safety. A strong relationship with OSHA is part of that commitment,” said Iain Conn, BP’s global head of Refining & Marketing.  read more...

Lord Browne responsible for BP's string of disasters, according to book (16 May 2012)
Oil giant BP has experienced a run of major accidents and disasters in recent years, culminating in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. A new book, by an acclaimed US writer on environmental issues, traces the roots of these disasters to a change in corporate culture under former Group Chief Executive Lord Browne, who headed the group from 1995 to 2007. read more...

US Macondo investigator visits UK on fact-finding tour (03 May 2012)
Investigators from the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) visited the UK on a fact-finding mission to gain further understanding of the UK oil and gas industry’s regulatory regime and safety culture. The CSB was particularly interested to learn about the role of regulators, workforce engagement and how asset integrity issues are managed. read more...

Ex-BP engineer arrested over Macondo oil spill cover up (30 April 2012)
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said 50-year-old Kurt Mix, a former BP engineer, was arrested on April 24 and charged with two counts of obstruction of justice for deleting 200-plus text messages about flow rates following the Macondo blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. read more...

Transocean seeks to block CSB Gulf of Mexico oil-spill probe (16 April 2012)
The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB), which investigates chemical explosions, launched its first offshore investigation shortly after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico explosion killed 11 workers and spewed more than 4 million barrels of crude into the sea. However, Transocean Ltd, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, says the agency has no jurisdiction to obtain access to blast survivors, internal records and other information, as other agencies investigate oil spills. read more...

BP’s Cherry Point refinery to stay closed into April (09 March 2012)
BP's 225,000 barrel per day (bpd) Cherry Point, Washington, refinery will remain shut into April for repairs due to a fire on February 17 and planned maintenance originally scheduled for later in the year, the company has announced. read more...

BP reaches $7.8bn Gulf of Mexico oil spill settlement (05 March 2012)
On March 2 BP reached an out-of-court settlement with lawyers representing thousands of individuals and businesses affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The estimated US$7.8 billion settlement claims to resolve the “substantial majority of legitimate economic loss and medical claims” related to the spill, according to BP. read more...

Weatherford cleared of Macondo claims (21 February 2012)
Weatherford International said a US judge found no evidence its equipment in the Gulf of Mexico contributed to the 2010 oil spill. The process used to cement BP's Macondo well was originally blamed in part for the series of malfunctions that led to a deadly explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. read more...

BP loses bid to share compensation payments for Macondo spill (10 February 2012)
US federal judge Carl Barbier has told BP that contractors Transocean and Halliburton do not have to share compensation payments over the Deepwater Horizon oil spill because they are protected by their contracts. read more...