TIMELINE-FERC affirms BP fine for alleged natgas market manipulation

July 12 (Reuters) - U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . federal energy regulators affirmed an administrative law judge's decision against oil major BP Plc and ordered the company to pay a civil penalty of $20,160,000 for allegedly manipulating the natural gas market in Texas in 2008.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) also ordered BP to disgorge $207,169 in unjust profits received as a result of its alleged manipulation, according to an order issued late Monday.

BP said in a statement it will seek a rehearing before the FERC and ultimately appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals if necessary.

"This decision should be reversed both because there is no credible evidence that BP's natural gas traders engaged in any market manipulation and because the FERC does not have jurisdiction over the trading at issue," BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said in the statement.

See: file:///C:/Users/U8017559/Downloads/20160711-3035(31574081)%20(1 ).pdf

For a timeline on FERC's BP case and the events leading up to it, see below.

July 2016 - FERC denies BP's appeal of administrative law judge's decision in August 2015, assesses civil penalty of $20,160,000 and required the company to disgorge $207,169 of allegedly unjust profits. BP said it would appeal.

September 2015 - BP appeals administrative law judge's decision in August 2015. August 2015 - Administrative law judge finds BP traders manipulated natural gas market as alleged by FERC enforcement. BP said it would appeal to commission.

FERC said the commission would decide at a later time whether civil penalties should be imposed for any BP violations and whether BP should disgorge any unjust profits. There is, however, no statutory deadline for FERC to act. October 2014 - U.S. FTC tells BP it closed its probe into anticompetitive practices in oil price reporting, but other regulators were still investigating. June-August 2014 - FERC seeks data on Houston Ship Channel and other gas sales from several companies, including units of McGraw Hill, IntercontinentalExchange, BP, Energy Transfer (Stuttgart: 4ETA.SG - news) Partners (LSE: 0QOQ.L - news) , Enbridge (Toronto: ENB.TO - news) , Enterprise Products, Kinder Morgan (Xetra: 2KD.DE - news) , Atmos Energy, Castleton Commodities, Tenaska, Integrys, Encana, Exelon, Chesapeake Energy (Other OTC: CHKDJ - news) , Chevron (Euronext: CHTEX.NX - news) , Enable Energy, Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) and Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) . May 2014 - FERC issues order establishing a hearing in July to determine whether BP violated the Natural Gas Act. October 2013 - BP denies wrongdoing in answer to FERC. August 2013 - FERC issues order to BP to show cause why the company should not be found to have violated the Natural Gas Act and pay a civil penalty of $28 million and disgorge $800,000 plus interest.

May 2013 - In an unrelated case, European Commission officials raid the offices of oil majors BP, Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and Statoil (LSE: 0M2Z.L - news) as part of a probe into suspected manipulation of oil and biofuel prices.

Other regulators, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the U.S. CFTC, Japanese Fair Trade Commission and the Korean Fair Trade Commission also opened investigations.

September-November 2008 - FERC alleges BP violated the Natural Gas Act by manipulating the next-day gas market at Houston Ship Channel from mid-September through Nov. 30, 2008.

FERC's Office of Enforcement said BP traders made uneconomic physical gas sales to suppress the Houston Ship Channel Gas Daily index and boost the value of BP's financial position.

September 2008 - FERC says BP had a pre-existing Houston Ship Channel-Henry Hub spread position that included short index swaps at Houston Ship Channel and long index swaps at Henry Hub. The position made money whenever the spread widened between daily physical gas prices at Houston Ship Channel and Henry Hub.

When Hurricane Ike caused Houston Ship Channel gas prices to plummet, BP's spread position had the potential to be worth millions of dollars if the daily spread between Houston Ship Channel and Henry Hub remained wide enough through the end of September, FERC said. October 2007 - BP agrees to pay $303 million to settle propane manipulation allegations with CFTC and U.S. Department of Justice. July 2005 - U.S. Congress passes Energy Policy Act of 2005, ratcheting up penalties FERC can impose for market manipulation and reliability violations to $1 million per day per violation from the prior cap of $10,000 a day. August 2003 - Blackout leaves 55 million people in the dark in eight U.S. Northeast and Midwest states and Ontario in Canada.

April 2003 - U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) alleges BP manipulated the propane market in April 2003 and February 2004. 2001-2003 - Numerous energy marketers, such as the former Enron, Mirant, El Paso and Dynegy (NYSE: DYN - news) , exit U.S. power and gas markets due to credit concerns and allegations of market manipulation.

December 2001 - Enron enters bankruptcy amid an accounting scandal and accusations of power and gas market manipulation. 2000-2001 - A power crisis hits California and other western U.S. states, costing customers up to $45 billion, along with lost economic activity, due in part to power and gas market manipulation. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino)