Oil giant BP formally entered a guilty plea in a deal with US prosecutors over the deadly explosion at its Texas City plant in 2005.

Outgoing BP chief executive John Browne has been ordered to answer questions about the company’s Texas City plant explosion in 2005 that killed 15 people and injured hundreds more.

Internal BP documents released to the US public as part of a lawsuit settlement stemming from last year’s deadly explosion at a Texas oil refinery detail prior knowledge within the company of problems at the facility.

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