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Wednesday, 07 January, 2009, 21:50 GMT | more >>

BP chiefs in firing line for refinery blast



By Upstream staff 

An internal review by BP into management responsibility for a deadly 2005 Texas refinery blast that claimed 15 lives calls for four executives to be fired, it was reported today.

The Financial Times said all of the executives are no longer actively directing refining operations at the company.

BP confirmed it had wrapped up the review into the blast at its Texas City refinery, called the accountability project, but declined to discuss what actions were taken based on the study's findings.

The study "found no evidence that anyone acted in bad faith or violated BP's code of conduct", BP said. "The team did determine there were shortcomings in the management performance of some members of the refining management team."

The Financial Times said the report called for the firing of Mike Hoffman, who recently retired as group vice president of refining and marketing, Pat Gower, US refining vice president; Don Parus, who was manager of the Texas City refinery at the time of the explosion and Willie Willis, Parus' designated successor.

Parus has been on leave since shortly after the 23 March 2005 explosion rocked the 460,000 barrel per day capacity refinery, the third largest in the US.

BP accepted responsibility for the explosion shortly after it occurred, but said employees failed to follow written procedures while restarting an octane-enhancing unit.

US federal safety investigators and an independent panel have said BP failed to recognise the risk of catastrophic accidents in operating its US refineries, Reuters reported.


Wednesday, 14 February, 2007, 11:31 GMT  | last updated: Wednesday, 14 February, 2007, 11:31 GMT

Accident: BP's Texas City refinery
 

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