BP announced today that it has entered into an administrative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on behalf of the federal government that resolves all issues related to the suspension, exclusion and legal disqualification of BP following the Deepwater Horizon accident and the oil spill. As a result of this agreement, BP again has the right to enter into new contracts with the U.S. government, including new deep-water leases in the Gulf of Mexico. Administrative agreements are negotiated and concluded instead of a written statement of disputes. As a general rule, these agreements do not contain factual decisions or findings of liability. These agreements are published on the website of the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS). Pursuant to the terms of the Administrative Agreement, which will apply for a period of five years, BP has agreed to a number of security and operational, ethical, compliance and corporate governance requirements, including those contained in the corrective decision resulting from BP`s 2012 Plea Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the final order of judgment with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of the administrative agreement, BP will dismiss its appeal against the EPO in Texas Federal Court for disqualification and inappropriate legal suspensions.

The Management Agreement applies to all suspended and excluded BP companies, including BP Exploration & Production Inc., BP p.l.c. and certain related companies. The communication of this proposed comparative agreement is consistent with Section 122(i) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C 9622(i). The settlement agreement is a de minimis agreement pursuant to Section 122(g) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C 9622(g), with the de minimis settlement parties listed below jointly committing to pay $6,521,025.19. The settlement agreement governs the liability of the de minimis settlement parties for past and future response costs at the Omega site and provides the de minimis settlement parties with an obligation not to bring an action under Section 122(g)(2) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C 9622(g)(2). Groundwater contamination extends about four and a half thousand miles southwest of the former Omega Chemical Corporation plant, to which the de minimis parties sent hazardous waste….