28 November 2012 Last updated at 11:34 ET
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 workers
BP faces temporary ban from new US contracts
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster killed 11 workers
BP has been temporarily suspended from new contracts with the US government, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said.
While it is unclear how long the ban will last, it follows BP's record fine earlier this month over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The EPA said it was taking action due to BP's "lack of business integrity" over its handling of the blowout.
BP has pleaded guilty to 14 criminal charges over the accident.
"The BP suspension will temporarily prevent the company and the named affiliates from getting new federal government contracts, grants or other covered transactions until the company can provide sufficient evidence to EPA demonstrating that it meets federal business standards," said the EPA in a statement.
"Suspensions are a standard practice when a responsibility question is raised by action in a criminal case."
BP would effectively be excluded from the lease of new exploration fields in the US-controlled part of the Gulf of Mexico, some 20m acres which will be auctioned later on Wednesday.
The BBC has confirmed that the Department of the Interior will not award BP any new leases - including for Wednesday's sale - for which it is the highest bidder until the EPA suspension from new federal contracts is resolved.
The Department of the Interior would not confirm whether or not BP was participating in the sale.
US operations
The EPA said that the temporary ban would not affect existing agreements BP has with the government.
But this could potentially impact the company's future earnings. BP's finance director Brian Gilvary told investors earlier this month that the group would have to rethink its entire US strategy were a blanket ban put in place.
The US is vital for BP, accounting for more than 20% of its global daily production. It has ploughed more than $52bn (£32bn) into US energy development projects since 2007, more than any other country BP invests in.
The UK company was the biggest fuel supplier to the US Department of Defense, which awarded it contracts valued at about $1.35bn in 2011.
BP's contracts with the US military jumped 33% over a year in 2011, according to data from Bloomberg. The group was awarded a fuel contract in May from the Pentagon while it faced mounting legal costs over the disaster.
The Deepwater Horizon accident, in which an oil rig exploded killing 11 people, caused one of the worst oil spills in history.
The EPA is the lead agency for suspension and debarment matters regarding BP and has the authority to disbar individuals and companies under sections of the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. bbc
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