14th Aug 2015 05:55
LONDON (Alliance News) - BP PLC faces the prospect of fresh regulatory fines after a US judge ruled that its energy traders rigged the natural gas market in Texas in the aftermath of a 2008 hurricane, the Financial Times reported late Thursday.
Citing the judge at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the US, the FT said the FTSE 100-listed oil and gas giant's traders based at the company's Southeast Gulf Texas office plotted to lose some money on physical gas positions in order to boost the value of holdings of financial derivatives tracking gas.
The FT said the fine could run into the "tens of millions of dollars" and comes after the company recently concluded a USD18.70 billion settlement with the US government over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
After Hurricane Ike made landfall in Texas in September 2008, the price of natural gas delivered in the Houston Ship Channel dropped to a sharp discount to the benchmark Henry hub in Louisiana. This created an "economic windfall" for BP, the judge wrote, as it had sold derivatives in Houston and bought them in Henry, the FT reported.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/aae695c2-4206-11e5-9abe-5b335da3a90e.html#axzz3ilWYV99m
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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