TIMELINE-U.S. judge upholds gas market manipulation charge against BP

Aug 13 (Reuters) - A U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . judge on Thursday found that BP Plc manipulated the natural gas market in 2008, as alleged by the U.S. energy regulator, but did not address a proposed $28 million fine or any other penalties.

The administrative law judge's decision upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's previous charges that BP's trading activities in Texas violated the Natural Gas Act.

FERC in August 2013 ordered BP to explain why it should not have to pay the fine and disgorge $800,000 plus interest. BP has disputed FERC's allegations.

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

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.

December 2001 - Enron enters bankruptcy amid an accounting scandal and accusations of power and gas market manipulation.

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.

April 2003 - U.S. Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) alleges BP manipulated the propane market in April 2003 and February 2004.

August 2003 - Blackout leaves 55 million people in the dark in eight U.S. Northeast and Midwest states and Ontario in Canada. 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.

October 2007 - BP agrees to pay $303 million to settle propane manipulation allegations with CFTC and U.S. Department of Justice.

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.

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.

May 2013 - In an unrelated case, European Commission officials raid the offices of oil majors BP, Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and Statoil (Xetra: 675213 - 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.

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.

October 2013 - BP denies wrongdoing in answer to FERC.

May 2014 - FERC issues order establishing a hearing in July to determine whether BP violated the Natural Gas Act.

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 (Other OTC: PGPHF - news) , Enbridge (Toronto: ENB.TO - news) , Enterprise Products, Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI - news) , Atmos Energy, Castleton Commodities, Tenaska, Integrys, Encana, Exelon, Chesapeake Energy (Other OTC: CHKDJ - news) , Chevron (Swiss: CVX.SW - news) , Enable Energy, Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) and Total (Swiss: FP.SW - news) .

October 2014 - U.S. FTC tells BP it closed its probe into anticompetitive practices in oil price reporting, but other regulators were still investigating.

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. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Chris Reese)