A US federal appeals court has ruled that the rights of victims in BP’s fatal Texas City explosion in March 2005 were violated by US prosecutors who reached a secret plea agreement with the UK oil group late last year before consulting victims.
The victims insist the plea deal is too lenient and they […]

A huge explosion rocked a Texan oil refinery yesterday in a violent blast that shook buildings miles away and injured at least four people.
One employee was hospitalized for burns, while three contractors were treated and released, said Blake Lewis, a spokesman for refinery owner Alon USA.

The former chief executive of British oil giant BP, Lord Browne, can avoid extensive face-to-face grilling from plaintiffs’ lawyers about the deadly March 2005 explosion at the company’s Texas City refinery, the Texas Supreme Court has ruled.
While the ruling directed a judge to enforce an agreement allowing for John Browne to give a […]

The row between the Kurds and Southern Iraq over is oil reserves and development of the oil industry (see yesterday’s blog) looks set to intensify.
The Kurds are negotiating with two Canadian firms on a joint venture to construct an oil refinery and continue work on a second one to boost its fledgling oil industry.

Several green groups have sued Shell Oil and its affiliates, claiming the oil giant has for years released pollutants from its suburban Houston refinery that are well above state and federal limits.
In their federal lawsuit, the Sierra Club and Environment Texas claim the excess air pollutants, including toxic chemicals benzene and 1,3-butadiene, are a violation […]