BP settled a lawsuit only hours before proceedings began in the first trial relating to the Texas City explosion, which killed 15 workers and injured 170 in 2005. The terms of the settlement, which concerned the suicide of a Texas City worker six weeks after the fire, were not disclosed.

Lawyers involved in a further three suits against BP were presenting opening arguments late yesterday in the court in Galveston, Texas.

BP has settled about 1,350 claims from individuals relating to the Texas City disaster, which cost the company billions of dollars in economic damage as well as compensation claims that have reached $2 billion. The accident led to the resignation of senior BP executives, including John Manzoni, the head of refining and marketing, and exposed the oil company to widespread criticism for its poor safety culture.

The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board found that costcutting by BP had left the plant, one of America’s largest fuel factories, vulnerable to catastrophe.

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The Texas City disaster is one of several blows to BP’s reputation over the past two years, including a big oil spillage in Alaska and allegations of market-rigging in oil products. The US Department of Justice is investigating BP but has yet to indicate whether it intends to prosecute.

The plaintiff lawyers are expected to focus on allegations that BP starved the plant of investment that might have prevented the disaster.

The oil company took responsibility for the blast immediately after completion of its own inquiry in 2005, but it has maintained that spending cuts had no direct bearing on the cause of the explosion. It attributed the accident to operator error and lax practices.

The case settled yesterday was brought by two offspring of a contract worker, Rene Cardona, who took his life six weeks after the explosion. His lawyer said that the suicide was linked to emotional trauma caused by the disaster.

A BP spokesman said yesterday that the company had sought to settle all claims relating to the incident. The remaining plantiffs in the trial, which began yesterday, are four contract workers claiming compensation for injuries, including back problems, hearing loss and posttraumatic stress disorder.

A jury of eight women and four men was selected for the trial on Tuesday from a pool of 200. Many were excluded after it was revealed through questioning that they believed BP had put profits before safety. Others were excluded for their belief that they could not award damages for mental anguish.

The case is likely to hinge on whether BP was grossly negligent in its management of the plant as the company has already admitted responsibility for the accident.

The accident occurred when BP was attempting to restart an isomerisation unit at the plant, which overfilled due to faulty gauges. Flammable vapours were vented into the air from a chimney and ignited.

— Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil and gas company, has indicated interest in taking control of Cepsa, the second-largest Spanish oil company, with the purchase of a 30 per cent shareholding from Banco Santander Central Hispano.

The Sonatrach move, reported in the Spanish press yesterday, may be an attempt to negotiate a deal after Algeria’s decision to terminate the participation of Repsol YPF, Spain’s biggest oil company, in Gassi Touil, a €5 billion (£3.3 billion) Algerian gas project. Repsol has accused Algeria of illegally appropriating the asset and threatened to sue.

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