[JURIST] BP Exploration Alaska (BPXA), a subsidiary of British Petroleum (BP) [corporate website], pleaded guilty Thursday to violating the Clean Water Act [text] in a case stemming from the March 2006 oil spill [JURIST report] at the company's Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska. According to a plea agreement [PDF text] reached last month, BPXA will pay $20 million in fines and restitution for the spill of an estimated 134,000 to 267,000 gallons of crude oil, the largest spill ever in Alaskan history [BBC report].

The agreement was one of three separate claims the BP corporation settled [JURIST report] in October. BP agreed to pay just over $300 million as part of an agreement [CFTC press release] to defer the prosecution of a civil lawsuit [JURIST report] filed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) [official website] in June 2006 alleging that at least six current and former employees of BP North America violated the Commodity Exchange Act [text] by using BP's dominant market position to manipulate propane prices. BP also agreed to pay $50 million and plead guilty to a one-count felony violation of the Clean Air Act [text] for alleged deficiencies at the company's Texas City refinery which resulted in an explosion that killed 15 people and injured hundreds more in 2005. AP has more.