BP oil refinery workers in Texas win damages of $100m

A US jury has awarded $100m (£62m) in damages to 10 workers who said a leak at a BP oil refinery in Texas in 2007 had made them sick.

The source of the leak at the refinery south of Houston was never identified and environmental agencies reported no evidence linking it to the refinery.

BP concluded that any toxic substance had come from outside.

But lawyers for the workers argued the odour had come from a sulphur recovery unit at the plant.

They described BP as a serial polluter.

The Texas jury agreed with the lawyers' case and imposed punitive damages.

A hundred workers at the refinery were sent to hospital after being overcome by a toxic substance and a further 90 claims are to come.

The workers said their injuries had included dizziness and sore throats, with one employee passing out after inhaling the substance, but none suffered long-term damage to their lungs, their lawyer said.

'Utterly unjustified'

BP said it was outraged by the verdict reached by the jury in Galveston, and would appeal.

"The verdict, and punitive damages award in particular, is utterly unjustified, improper and unsupportable," it added.

Tony Buzbee, a lawyer for the workers, said his clients were pleased with the jury's decision, adding that he had approached BP before the trial and had offered to settle for $10,000 for each worker.

BP had rejected the proposal, he said.

"They tried to minimise it, attack the credibility of the workers," Mr Buzbee said.

"They simply would not admit that they had released something."

The refinery was the site of a 2005 explosion that killed 15 people and injured 170, the worst US industrial accident since 1990.

It has a history of fires, chemical releases and worker deaths, The Associated Press reports.

Nigeria rebels attack oil pipeline

Armed men in the Niger delta of Nigeria say they have attacked an oil pipeline overnight, putting a two-month truce with the government in doubt.

A faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it attacked the pipeline.

A spokesman said it was because the government was delaying peace talks due to the absence of ill President Umaru Yar'Adua, who is in Saudi Arabia.

Attacks have cost Nigeria millions in lost revenue over the years.

The faction said, in an e-mailed statement, that the "warning strike" was carried out by 35 men on five boats with assault rifles, rocket launchers and heavy-calibre machine guns.

It said the pipeline was in Abonemma, about 50km (30 miles) west of Port Harcourt.

Nigeria's military has not commented on the attack.

Peace talks were suspended when President Yar'Adua was hospitalised in late November in Saudi Arabia.

Mend said it would review the ceasefire within 30 days.

"While the Nigerian government has conveniently tied the advancement of talks on the demands of this group to a sick president, it has not tied the repair of pipelines, exploitation of oil and gas as well as the deployment and re-tooling of troops in the region to the president's ill health," it said.

Iran troops 'seize Iraq oil well'

Iranian troops have entered southern Iraqi territory and taken control of an oil well, reports say.

An Iraqi official played down the incident, saying the area was abandoned and right on a disputed border section.

Iranian soldiers crossed the border and raised an Iranian flag over the Fakkah oil field, a US military spokesman told the AFP news agency.

But an Iranian oil company spokesman denied the accusation, saying no troops had taken control of any oil well.

"The company denies Iranian soldiers taking control of any oil well inside Iraqi territory," the National Iranian Oil Company spokesman was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

Confirmation

Iraq's Deputy Interior Minister confirmed the Iranians stayed in Iraq and were in control of the well.

Earlier it was reported that they had withdrawn back across the border.

Deputy Interior Minister Ahmed Ali al-Khafaji initially told the Reuters news agency the reports of the Iranian incursion were not true.

But Mr Khafaji later confirmed the incursion had taken place, and said 11 Iranians had dug-in at the oil well and had not left.

"At 3:30 this afternoon, 11 Iranian soldiers infiltrated the Iran-Iraq border and took control of the oil well. They raised the Iranian flag, and they are still there until this moment," he told the Reuters news agency.

He said there had been no military response from Iraqi forces..

"We are awaiting orders from our leader," he said.

The incursion is one of several that have occurred in the last few days, he said.

The well is about 500m from an Iranian border fort and about 1km from an Iraqi fort, US Colonel Peter Newell told AFP.