MORE troubles have bubbled up for petroleum giant BP in its Alaskan oilfields.
In March, pesky bacteria ate holes in the pipeline carrying crude oil over the permafrost from Prudhoe Bay, causing the largest-ever oil spill on the Alaska North Slope. Now a court may decide BP owes a local Inuit family millions in unpaid royalties.
In the 1980s, the US federal government, which represents Native Americans in contracts involving natural resources, arranged for BP to pay Andrew Oenga royalties for a pipeline and road built over his land. His family has since received $670,000.
BP also built an…
