BP will Pay Fine for Manipulating Gas Prices

Oil and gas giant BP has agreed to pay $303m to settle charges that the company illegally manipulated propane prices in the US in 2004.

Moreover, BP may face at least three years of unusual government scrutiny even as it tries to put behind it a series of setbacks in the US, including an oil spill in Prudhoe Bay and allegations of improper behaviour at its US trading arm.

The settlement has been agreed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the US futures regulator, and the Department of Justice.