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BP confirms US probe into crude, gasoline price manipulation
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 08 30 06
British energy major BP confirmed Tuesday that it was facing a US investigation over whether the group had manipulated crude oil and motor fuel markets.
"We are aware of the investigation and we are fully cooperating with the regulators," said a London-based spokesman for BP, which is also facing questions over slashed output at the Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska.
"We comply with regulators when they ask us questions on energy matters," he added.
Federal investigators were examining whether BP had manipulated crude oil and unleaded gasoline markets, The Wall Street Journal's European edition reported on Tuesday.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission had sent subpoenas to BP and energy traders in the crude-oil probe, according to lawyers and traders who have been contacted or briefed in the civil investigation, the WSJ said Tuesday.
Investigators were focusing on possible manipulation of the global over-the-counter market in 2003 and 2004, the paper added.
The gasoline inquiry, which began more than one year ago and includes a criminal probe by the US Department of Justice, was examining a single day's trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2002, the WSJ reported.
News of the separate investigations into crude oil and motor fuel comes at a time of heightened public scrutiny of BP.
Tuesday's development came one day after the group said it would appeal a decision by a Texas judge who had ordered BP chief executive John Browne to answer questions about a fatal refinery explosion in Texas last year.
The group is being investigated by the Department of Justice over a vast explosion at its Texas City refinery in March last year which killed 15 people.
On Monday, Judge Susan Criss of the 212th District Court in Galveston, Texas, had ordered that Browne had to respond to depositions by lawyers acting for the families of people killed in the blast.
BP has meanwhile been summoned before US Congress next week over the Prudhoe Bay oil field, whose closure earlier this month owing to a pipeline leak had sent London Brent crude prices soaring to record levels.
AFP 291410 GMT 08 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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