US bans BP from new Government work over Deepwater Horizon disaster

Oil giant BP has been suspended from new contracts with the US government because of the way it handled the Gulf rig disaster.

The country's Environmental Protection Agency said the suspension was due to BP's "lack of business integrity as demonstrated by the company's conduct with regard to the Deepwater Horizon blow-out, explosion, oil spill, and response.".

Two weeks ago BP agreed to plead guilty to charges involving the deaths of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which exploded and sank in April 2010, setting off the US's largest offshore oil spill. BP will also plead guilty to lying to Congress about how much oil was spewing from the blown-out Macondo well.

AP