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BP's safety woes limited to Texas refinery: CEO

Posted on: Thursday, 15 June 2006, 11:20 CDT

By Timothy Gardner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - BP Plc Chief Executive John Browne said on Thursday that 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 that the safety problems at the third-largest refinery in the United States were limited to that plant alone and did not extend to the company's other four U.S. refineries.

London-based BP 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're learning from the accident at Texas City and I believe we are applying that learning to our refineries in the United States and worldwide in a very rapid way," he said.

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

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

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

Interviews of top BP executives in the United States 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.

(Additional reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston)

Source: REUTERS

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