Beleaguered oil giant BP plc (BP,BP.L) has agreed to pay a record $50.6 million fine for failing to correct safety hazards at its Texas City oil refinery after a disastrous explosion in 2005 killed 15 workers and injured 170 others, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Thursday.
The fine imposed by the OSHA, which is part of the Labor Department, is the largest penalty ever issued by the watchdog. BP has also agreed to take immediate steps to protect those now working at the refinery, allocating a minimum of $500 million to that effort.
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said, "The size of the penalty rightly reflects BP's disregard for workplace safety and shows that we will enforce the law so workers can return home safe at the end of their day."
The settlement resolves 270 of 709 citations OSHA issued at the Texas refinery in October 2009, BP said in a statement. The company is already liable for billions in fines and compensation payouts in the wake of the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Also under the agreement with OSHA, BP will immediately begin performing safety reviews of the refinery equipment according to set schedules and make permanent corrections. The agreement provides for an "unprecedented level of oversight" of BP's safety program including regular meetings with OSHA, frequent site inspections and the submission of quarterly reports for the agency's review.
BP has also agreed to establish a liaison between its North American and London boards of directors and OSHA, which will allow the agency to raise compliance problems at the highest level.
The explosion at the Texas refinery was found to have resulted due to safety violations by BP. After the disaster, BP paid a $21.3 million fine in 2005, until now the largest payout OSHA had imposed. But OSHA said that in a follow-up investigation in 2009, it found that BP had still not met its commitments.
Last October, OSHA proposed that BP pay $87.4 million in penalties, made up of two parts. The first part cited 270 violations that BP had failed to correct after the explosion, totaling $56.7 million. This was later corrected to $50.6 million, which BP has now agreed to pay. The company however continues to contest the remaining part of the fine for 439 violations, of more than $30 million.
BP closed Thursday's regular trading session at $38.38, down $0.41 or 1.06% on a volume of 12.56 million shares. The stock has been trading in a range of $26.75-$62.38 in the past 52 weeks.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.