BP's safety record is under fire once again after a leaked internal report showed a series of failings that could have caused lethal accidents at the oil giant's refining and petrochemicals plants.

A report dated August 2015, co-written by BP and external consultants, concluded that "urgent attention" was required to tackle problems with the way engineering information was handled as the shortcomings were causing "material" safety risks.

It found that "inadequate management and use of engineering information" - such as poor design, failure to follow procedures and incorrect installation or labelling - had been "a root cause or contributing factor" in 15pc of recent safety incidents.

Two of the incidents - one in Hull and one in Whiting, Indiana - were disclosed to have been categorised as "high potential", meaning an incident or near miss where the most serious likely outcome could have been a major incident, such as a fatality or significant environmental damage.

The document, which was leaked to environmental campaign group Greenpeace and first reported by the Financial Times, raises fresh questions for BP, which has battled to restore its safety reputation following the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010.

The report warns that BP is "significantly" behind Shell in managing crucial engineering information, with Chevon and ConocoPhillips also doing better than BP.