Out-of-court settlement in BP blast

A woman whose parents were killed in an American oil refinery blast has received a payout after BP settled the last remaining lawsuit.

The explosion, in Texas last year, killed 15 and wounded more than 170.

The oil company was criticised for lax safety measures at the refinery.

As the jury was being selected in what would have been the first civil case from the explosion to go to trial, Eva Rowe agreed to settle out of court.

The 22-year-old walked away with an undisclosed amount, but the settlement also called for London-based BP to continue to release documents related to the case and to donate millions to schools and medical facilities, including one where victims were treated after the March explosion.

Miss Rowe’s parents, 48-year-old James Rowe and Linda Rowe, 47, of Hornbeck, Louisiana, were two of the 15 killed.

Brent Coon, Eva Rowe’s lawyer, said the settlement will still let the public know what caused the explosion and educate the petrochemical industry about preventing such accidents.

The donations, which could total $38m (€30m), include money for the school system in Hornbeck, where Linda Rowe was a teaching assistant.

The adult burns unit at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which treated 23 victims of the blast, will also receive money.

“I’m very satisfied with the outcome to be able to help so many people in the community and make a difference for long-term things,” Eva Rowe said. “I didn’t want my parents to be forgotten. I know that they won’t.”

Coon said his law firm will continue to release documents related to the case as long as both sides agree.

The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, one of several agencies looking into the blast, has said internal BP documents show that budget cuts of 25% from 1998 to 2000 caused a progressive deterioration of safety at the refinery.

“BP has admitted they were responsible. The issue is what level of knowledge did they have in advance. Those issues are still out there,” Coon said.

BP spokesman Ronnie Chappell said: “We are happy to have been able to resolve this and spare Ms. Rowe the task of bringing this case to trial.”

BP attorney Jim Galbraith said he was pleased with the settlement.

“We deeply want to express our sorrow for the loss that Eva Rowe has sustained,” Galbraith said. “We are working hard to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”

BP has said it has committed more than $1bn (€778m) over the next five years to upgrade and maintain the facility and has made vast safety improvements, including introducing better training programs and removing more than 200 temporary structures.

Rowe also sued former Texas City plant manager Don Parus and JE Merit Constructors, which employed her parents.

Both were released from the lawsuit in the settlement.

The explosion at the plant happened after a piece of equipment called a blowdown drum overfilled with highly flammable liquid hydrocarbons.

The excess liquid and vapour hydrocarbons were then released from the drum and ignited as the isomerisation unit – a device that boosts the octane in gasoline - started up.

Alarms and gauges that were supposed to warn of the overfilled equipment did not work properly.

In its initial report in October 2005, the CSB concluded the isomerisation unit had prior problems and was not connected to a flare system that would have burned off vapour and prevented or minimised the accident.

Last week, the board urged the petroleum industry and federal regulators to eliminate blowdown drums from all US refineries, and Coon said he and Rowe will work to help introduce legislation requiring such action.