Source: BP to plea in refinery explosion

Texas City, Texas -- British energy giant BP reportedly reached a deal with U.S. officials to settle criminal allegations from a fatal explosion at a BP refinery in Texas in 2005.

The agreement, scheduled to be announced this week, would end a U.S. Justice Department investigation into the company's actions leading to and surrounding the 2005 disaster, a source told the Houston Chronicle. The 2005 blast at BP's Texas City refinery killed 15 people and injured scores more.

The person familiar with the negotiations said the company agreed to plead guilty to a crime and pay a fine, the Chronicle reported Wednesday. Other details were unavailable.

BP has settled at least 3,000 lawsuits arising from the explosion, but hundreds remain pending. The company set aside $1.6 billion to resolve that litigation.

The company is investing $1 billion into upgrades at the 73-year-old refinery.

The revelation about the settlement in the plant explosion case is in addition to a reported settlement of more than $300 million on unrelated civil charges that BP manipulated the price of propane three years ago. In this plea, BP reportedly agreed to make changes to its compliance operations to avoid criminal prosecution.

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