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SAFETY
BP ADMITS SAFETY LAPSES Company will spend $1 billion to improve safety at Texas City refinery after explosion
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TRAGIC Accident at BP's Texas City facility has prompted safety changes.
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ica says it plans to spend about $1 billion over the next five years to improve and maintain its Texas City, Texas, refinery. The company has acknowledged that serious management lapses were largely to blame for the explosion and fire that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 others at the site in March. In a final report issued on Dec. 9, BP said its investigation team had found "no evidence of anyone consciously or intentionally taking actions or decisions that put others at risk" in the blast. However, "the team found many
areas where procedures, policies, and expected behaviors were not met." Investigators said t h e absence of key personnel, confusion around who was in charge, and the behavior of supervisors eroded the chain of command to the point that decision-making authority was unclear. In addition, process safety, operations performance, and systematic risk reduction priorities had not been set and consistently reinforced by management. "We accept the findings, and we are working to make Texas City a complex that attains the
BUSINESS
DRUG MAJORS TALK TO WALL STREET Three firms weigh pipelines, patents, and research in forecasts for growth
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Taurel (from top), Dolan, and Clark 12
LI LILLY, BRISTOL-MYERS
Squibb, and Merck met with analysts in New York City in recent days, collectively providing an optimistic snapshot of the beleaguered industry's standing going into 2006. The rosiest picture was painted by Lilly CEO Sidney Taurel. "Given our products, pipelines, and the fact that we expect no major patent expirations for the rest of this decade, Lilly is uniquely positioned to deliver sustained earnings growth," Taurel said. The company, which anticipates earnings-per-share growth ofmore
C&EN / DECEMBER 19. 2005
than 8% next year, nearly tripled its new product portfolio since 2001, launching nine new products. Lilly also reported on cost-control measures, such as a Six Sigma quality regimen, that resulted in a 15% productivity increase this year. Taurel stated a goal of reducing the cost of developing a new medicine from $1.2 billion today to $800 million by the end of the decade. Despite a healthy pipeline at Bristol-Myers Squibb, growth will be deferred until 2007, according to CEO Peter R. Dolan. The company will lose patent protection on
highest levels of safety, reliability, and environmental performance," said RossJ. Pillari, president of BP Products North America. The accident occurred when workers restarting an octane-enhancing isomerization unit overfilled and overheated it, causing the unit to overflow. Workers died because construction trailers were placed too close to the equipment, according to investigators. The company said it would install modern process control systems on major units, transition to a new maintenance management system, improve worker training, remove blowdown stacks, and implement other recommendations in the report. T h e Occupational Safety & Health Administration has referred its investigation to the Department of Justice, which could bring criminal charges. In September, OSHA found that BP committed more than 300 willful violations and fined the company $21.3 million.—GLENN HESS
the cholesterol drug Pravachol, its second biggest moneymaker, next year. It is also dealing with delays for Pargluva, a type 2 diabetes treatment being developed with Merck. Merck, which announced the elimination of 7,000 jobs late last month and faces patent loss on the cholesterol modifier Zocor, its topselling drug, is now targeting nearly $5 billion in total savings through 2010. This is up from the $3.5 billion to $4.0 billion announced along with the job cuts. CEO Richard T d a r k told analysts that the company will focus R&D on nine priority disease areas including Alzheimer's, vaccines, and obesity, but that it will continue to make "focused investments" in areas such as antivirals. Promising that Merck "will remain a research-driven pharmaceutical company," Clark said the firm is on course for double-digit annual sales growth over the next three to five years.—RICK MULLIN WWW.CEN-0NLINE.0R6
