EXTRACT: The payout would dwarf the $2.5 million BP paid the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2003 to settle allegations it had improperly traded crude oil futures, and the $120 million Royal Dutch Shell paid the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004 to settle accusations it overstated its reserves.
THE ARTICLE
By Tom Bergin Reuters – Wednesday, October 24 11:22 am
LONDON (Reuters) – Oil major BP faces fines in excess of $300 million (146 million pounds) to settle civil and criminal probes related to market manipulation charges and a Texas refinery explosion that killed 15 workers in 2005.
The London-based company will pay $303 million to settle civil charges that it tried to manipulate propane prices in the United States by cornering the market in February 2004, a source familiar with the matter said late on Tuesday.
The world’s third-largest non-government controlled oil company by market capitalisation is also close to settling charges that it was criminally indifferent to worker safety, contributing to the Texas blast, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing government officials.
BP has agreed to plead guilty to criminal environmental charges and pay $50 million to settle a U.S. federal investigation into the deadly 2005 explosion, newswire Dow Jones said, citing people familiar with the situation.
Safety regulators said cost cuts were partly to blame for the Texas City blast.
BP declined to comment on the cases. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) refused to comment on a settlement of the market manipulation charges it had brought.
BP shares were unmoved by the reports, falling 0.16 percent to 611 pence at 10:34 a.m., in line with a 0.15 percent fall in the DJ Stoxx European oil and gas sector index as oil prices eased.
BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward earlier this month announced a restructuring which he hopes will address some of the weaknesses which BP executives blame for the problems at BP’s U.S. operations in recent years.
These problems have included the fatal explosion, the market manipulation charges, delays in bringing big new fields on line and pipeline leaks.
Hayward was appointed in May after predecessor John Browne was forced to stand down early after lying to a court in an attempt to keep his personal life private.
The $303 million which BP is expected to pay to settle the CFTC charges suggests the company is prepared to pay a big price to put its difficulties behind it.
The payout would dwarf the $2.5 million BP paid the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2003 to settle allegations it had improperly traded crude oil futures, and the $120 million Royal Dutch Shell paid the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004 to settle accusations it overstated its reserves.
BP’s aggressive energy trading operations made it one of the most successful players on international oil and gas markets.
In 2005, the last period for which the oil major published its trading profits, the company made over $2 billion from taking bets on energy markets.
However, BP said in its annual report that it had made “internal improvements” in its trading compliance processes following the propane-related charges last year, and dealers and industry sources said these changes appeared to have toned down the company’s appetite for risky trades.
(Additional Reporting by Dane Hamilton in New York)
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
