BP faces challenge over 2009 spill

While it is still dealing with the fallout from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP has been dealt another blow.

The US government is claiming that the oil industry giant has violated its probation following a spill in 2006, by allowing a pipeline to rupture in the same area in 2009.

In 2007 BP pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act by spilling 200,000 gallons of oil from Prudhoe Bay, with the US government claiming it violated its probation when 13,500 gallons were spilt in the same spot in 2009.

The government claims that the latter spill was "predictable and preventable" and "eerily similar to the 2006 spill".

However, BP has disagreed and said that conditions that lead to the spill in 2009 had never previously been encountered on the North Slope near Prudhoe Bay.

It added that the rupture occurred in a pipeline which had previously performed "flawlessly".

Posted by Lauren Steadman