WASHINGTON - The British oil company BP Plc and its affiliates have been suspended from new contracts with the US government due to the criminal charges in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, the US Environmental Protection Agency said on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, BP plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the Gulf of Mexico disaster, the worst oil spill in US history, and agreed to pay record penalties of $4.5 billion.
The temporary contract suspension stems from those charges, the EPA said.
"Federal executive branch agencies take these actions to ensure the integrity of federal programs by conducting business only with responsible individuals or companies. Suspensions are a standard practice when a responsibility question is raised by action in a criminal case," the EPA said in a statement.
In London, BP had no immediate comment. The company recognized the risk that it could be banned from US government contracts when it agreed earlier this month to plead guilty to criminal charges over the spill, but it said at the time that it had not received any indication that government departments would go ahead with such a ban.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
