[In March 2005]...15 people were dead and 500 injured in [an explosion at BP's Texas refinery]...The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) uncovered more than 300 “egregious, wilful violations” in Texas City – BP’s biggest refinery. BP did not admit guilt but agreed to a maximum allowable $21m fine and said it would spend $1bn improving and maintaining the refinery over the next five years...Many of the problems at the 70-year-old plant had, no doubt, been inherited by BP when it acquired the refinery in 1998 as part of its purchase of Amoco...But instead of making the investments needed to improve safety, BP in 1999 ordered a 25 per cent cut in fixed costs...