British oil giant BP has been fined a record $US87 million ($95
million) for safety violations at a Texas refinery where 15 people
were killed in a 2005 explosion.

US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said BP had failed to address critical safety issues at the Texas City refinery after the 2005 disaster and had also committed new violations.

"This Administration will not tolerate disregard for lives," Ms Solis said on Friday, after inspectors found 270 cases in which BP failed to comply with agreed changes.

They also found 439 new safety violations which "if unaddressed could lead to another catastrophe", Ms Solis said.

Many of those violations were related to the pressure-release system at the root of the massive blast, which also injured 170 people.

BP said in a statement the majority of the citations "relate to a previously announced disagreement" as to whether it is in compliance with safety regulations. "BP continues to believe we are in full compliance and the company will formally contest these citations. While we strongly disagree with their conclusions, we will continue to work with the agency to resolve our differences."

The refinery is the third largest in the US, with a capacity of 475,000 barrels of crude a day. BP said it took responsibility for its employees "extremely seriously and we believe our efforts to improve process safety performance have been among the most strenuous and comprehensive the refining industry has ever seen".

But officials at the US federal safety watchdog, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, condemned BP for failing to take sufficient steps to fix problems at the refinery. "There were some serious, systemic safety problems ... and specifically within this refinery," the watchdog said.

"Just the fact that there are so many still-outstanding problems, life-threatening problems, at this plant, indicates that they still have a systemic safety problem."