British oil giant BP said Thursday it has agreed to pay another 13 million U.S. dollars to settle charges of its failing to fix safety violations at its Texas City oil refinery.

London-based BP said in a news release that it has reached an agreement with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to settle 409 of the 439 remaining citations issued to the BP Texas City refinery in 2009.

BP had already paid 50 million U.S. dollars to settle some of the OSHA charges.

The U.S. government had been seeking a total of 80 million dollars in penalties against BP over safety violations of its Texas City refinery, where a 2005 explosion killed 15 workers.

"BP is committed to workplace safety. A strong relationship with OSHA is part of that commitment," said Iain Conn, BP's global head of Refining & Marketing. "We respect OSHA and have worked to address their concerns in this latest agreement," he said.
As part of its agreement with the OSHA, BP will pay a civil penalty of 13 million U.S. dollars.

After this settlement, BP still has to work out the remaining 30 violations discovered at its Texas City refinery in 2009.

The OSHA hit BP with 87.4 million dollars in penalties in 2009 after the agency found safety hazards that had not been addressed since the BP Texas City plant's blast, which killed 15 and injured more than 170 others.

BP has paid more than 2 billion U.S. dollars to settle lawsuits stemming from the blast and paid a 21.3 million in fines to OSHA in the months after the blast.

BP, the second largest producer of oil and gas in the U.S. has been trying to sell its Texas City plant, which has the capacity of over 400,000 barrels-per-day, by the end of this year. Resolving the charges over the Texas City refinery could help the planned sale of the plant.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet