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Browne admits Texas City lapses



By Upstream staff 

BP chief executive John Browne said today there was a "broken safety record" at its refinery in Texas City, Texas, where 15 people were killed and 170 wounded in an explosion in March 2005.

But he added the safety problems at the third-largest refinery in the US were limited to that plant alone and did not extend to the company's four other US refineries.

The UK supermajor is facing scrutiny from federal prosecutors for the blast, and has also been recently fined for safety problems at its refinery in Toledo, Ohio.

"We had a broken safety record at Texas City," Browne told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting where BP presented its annual energy statistical review at the National Press Club.

"After a lot of improvement we are learning from the accident at Texas City and I believe we are applying that learning to our refineries in teh US and worldwide in a very rapid way," he said.

When asked if safety problems were spread through its other refineries in the US, he said, "No. This was a lesson that was specific."

Browne said he has not been asked by US investigators to give a statement about last year's explosion at the Texas City refinery.

A member of the US Chemical Safety Board said earlier this month that the board may interview Browne about the blast. The chief executive said today he had not been asked by CSB to give a statement.

Interviews of top BP executives in the US and England are part of the board's work to wrap up its final report this year on the blast.

The Texas City plant resumed some gasoline production in April after a safety inspection following the blast and Hurricane Rita in September.


Thursday, 15 June, 2006, 16:31 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 15 June, 2006, 16:31 GMT

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