U.S. EPA Forgives BP, Allows It to Resume Business With Feds

Under the agreement announced Thursday, BP is required to hire an independent auditor approved by the EPA to conduct an annual review for each of the next five years and report on BP’s compliance with the agreement. BP also will have to meet certain provisions related to ethics compliance, corporate governance and process safety. The EPA retains the authority to “take appropriate corrective action in the event the agreement is breached.”

Since the ban was imposed, 25 of BP’s subsidiaries have been suspended from competing for federal contracts, and BP Exploration and Production Inc. was disqualified from performing federal work at the corporate facility in Houston. The ban also prevented BP from bidding on leases for new offshore oil and gas properties.

The EPA’s lifting of the ban comes just in time for BP to participate in the latest round of Gulf lease sales. Next Wednesday the federal government will auction 134 blocks, comprising 465,200 acres, in the Lloyd Ridge and De Soto Canyon. The leasing region straddles the line between the Central and Eastern Gulf of Mexico planning areas, due south of the western end of Florida’s panhandle. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s lease announcement has the details.

BP stock was down fractionally Friday morning, at $47.45 in a 52-week range of $40.12 to $51.02.