Marathon Petroleum is taking BP to court over claims the British vitality big left its Texas City refinery in disrepair when it was bought nearly 4 years ago.
The new lawsuit from Ohio-primarily based Marathon alleges BP did not “carry out important upkeep and restore work” earlier than handing over control of the large Texas refinery that has a history of explosions and toxic leaks.
BP argued Tuesday it met all of its authorized obligations and that Marathon is just trying to rewrite the monetary terms of a deal it not likes.
Related:Marathon Petroleum commits to $2 billion Galveston refining growth
The timing of the go well with is noteworthy as a result of there’s a 4-12 months statute of limitations to sue that expires early subsequent year, stated David Coale with the Dallas firm of Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst.
“There’s some huge cash concerned, so this is not incredibly unusual,” said Coale, who shouldn’t be involved within the case. “It is a harmful enterprise and a heavily regulated business. Environmental regulations are sophisticated and reasonable minds can disagree.”
Marathon bought Texas’ third-largest refinery in early 2013 for $2.4 billion from BP, which had acquired the eighty two-year-previous refinery at first of 1999 after merging with Amoco Corp.
The plant, which Marathon calls its Galveston Bay Refinery, earned an notorious highlight in 2005 when an explosion killed 15 workers and injured nearly 200 others. Five years later, the refinery spewed toxic gases for 45 days, and practically 50,000 neighborhood residents sued for alleged health impacts. BP denied the release precipitated health issues and was found negligent, however not liable. BP paid $50 million in a state settlement.
Associated:20,000 circumstances dismissed over refinery emissions release in Texas City
BP bought to refinery to help pay its costs within the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy.
In the brand new lawsuit, Marathon mentioned BP promised to leave the refinery in compliance with environmental laws and federal laws. Marathon stated it found quite a few deficiencies after taking over the refinery. BP took preliminary steps to appropriate non-compliance issues “however chose not to complete the work previous to promoting the refinery,” the go well with claims.
Marathon is in search of recovery costs, damages and attorneys’ charges.
The suit claims BP left greater than three,000 pressure valves untested and at the very least 500 electrical components out of compliance. BP failed to maintain and hand over proper documentation for all of the refinery’s equipment, creating an “costly and time-consuming process” for Marathon to fill within the gaps. Marathon had to pay to fix and upgrade startup vents within the sulfur recovery unit. The go well with also said Marathon spent cash to restore corrosion issues and change a number of fireplace safety techniques.
In a ready assertion Tuesday, BP Senior Vice President Geoff Morrell said BP spent billions of dollars to upgrade the refinery and agreed to promote the complex to Marathon at a discount so it might make additional enhancements. He said Marathon had “just about unrestricted entry” to the documents and tools before the deal was finalized.
