US To Announce Settlement With BP Plc Over Texas City Refinery-Reuters

Reuters reported that U.S. workplace safety regulators plan to announce a settlement with BP Plc's U.S. refining subsidiary over safety violations found at the company's Texas City, Texas, refinery in 2009. BP has been trying to sell the refinery and a settlement would make the facility more attractive to potential buyers. In 2009, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hit BP with $87.4 million in fines for alleged safety violations at the giant Texas City refinery. In 2010, as it was battling the gigantic Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BP agreed to pay a settlement of $50 million to OSHA for violations related to the 2005 explosion at the refinery that killed 15 workers. BP and OSHA continued talks for a settlement of the remaining fines. The violations were found during inspections by OSHA at the BP refinery in Texas City, which is located about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Houston, in the years following the 2005 blast. Most of the violations were problems OSHA said BP had failed to correct after the explosion. The rest were for what OSHA said were new violations.