The US House Energy and Commerce Committee will investigate BP's
apparent agreement with the US government to pay $303 million to settle civil
charges over alleged manipulation of the propane market, panel Chairman John
Dingell said Wednesday.

News of the agreement was reported Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal,
which said a formal announcement by the US Department of Justice and the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission is expected Thursday.

BP and the CFTC declined on Tuesday to comment on the Journal report.

"In light of this settlement, the Energy and Commerce Committee will
investigate whether government agencies acted appropriately during pricing
negotiations with BP," Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said in a statement. "We
are specifically interested in determining whether the penalties levied are
sufficient deterrents to improper behavior. In order to protect America's
businesses and consumers, we plan to carefully monitor this matter and take a
close look at BP's operations in the US."

Dingell said recent CFTC legal actions against BP, coupled with previous
futures market violations, "confirm my concerns that there is market
manipulation" in the energy industry.

"We will be assessing whether there is a corporate climate within BP,
which allows its traders to engage in a pattern and practice of price
manipulation," added Bart Stupak, chairman of the House panel's subcommittee
on oversight and investigations. "While BP traders may have been laughing all
the way to the bank, this is no laughing matter for those consumers who end up
footing the bill. For my part, I will continue to promote my Prevent Unfair
Manipulation of Prices Act, which would bring badly needed oversight and
transparency to the vast, unregulated energy future market."

The CFTC in June 2006 filed a civil suit in the US District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois, charging BP Products with cornering the
physical propane market and manipulating propane prices in February 2004.

BP is separately being investigated by US regulators for alleged
manipulation of the crude oil market. The probe, which had originally been
focused on the company's trading activities in 2003 and 2004, has been
extended back to 1999, BP acknowledged this summer.

--Cathy Landry, cathy_landry@platts.com