Blinded by the Sun King

BP has tripped up in the US - again. Last year, an explosion at its Texas City refinery killed 15, triggering several federal investigations. This year, authorities opened a criminal probe into the company following a large spill from its pipelines in Alaska. And now the European oil giant has been charged with cornering the $30bn a year US propane market, forcing up prices for millions of rural Americans in 2004. Other oil majors haven’t suffered a similar string of mishaps in the US. What has ...