BP to sell refinery in $2.4 billion deal

BP said Monday it would sell a Texas City oil refinery with a tragic history to Marathon Petroleum Corp. in a deal worth $2.5 billion. On March 23, 2005, an explosion at the refinery killed 15 workers and injured many more. The sale includes divestiture of BP's logistics network covering the southeast, the Houston Chronicle reported. That network includes natural gas liquids pipelines and four marketing terminals, the companies said. The sale brings the total value of assets BP has sold since 2010 to $35 billion. The company is expected to sell an additional $3 billion in assets by the end of 2013. "Together with the sale of our Carson, Calif., refinery, announced in August, the divestment of Texas City will allow us to focus BP's U.S. fuels investments on our three northern refineries," said Iain Conn, the BP executive in charge of global refining and marketing in a statement. In various legal settlements, BP has paid or been ordered to pay $84 million in fines connected to the explosion, the final $13 million in fines was the result of a regulatory challenge that concluded in July. There is still one claim associated with the explosion that is outstanding, a legal dispute concerning pressure required for safe performance of relief valves, the newspaper said.