Total was ordered to pay 6.2 million pounds in fines and costs for the involvement of Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd. (HOSL), its joint venture with Chevron, the Press Association said on Friday.

"We fully accept our responsibilities for the events that took place ... and recognize the devastating consequences that the incident had on the surrounding communities and businesses," Lee Young, Total UK's head of legal and company secretary, said in a statement.

HOSL was separately fined 2.45 million pounds over the December, 2005 blast.

British Pipeline Agency Ltd., a joint venture between BP and Shell, has to pay 780,000 pounds. Neither company was immediately available for comment.

The explosion occurred in December 2005 when 250,000 liters of petrol spilled from a storage tank and ignited. Safety systems and alarms at the plant failed to operate.

The UK Environment Agency estimated direct costs from the incident at 1 billion pounds, making it one of the UK's costliest industrial disasters.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Total UK did not follow its own procedures for running the plant and failed to fix faults on safety equipment.

Des Collins, a solicitor for many of the families affected by the blast, in which 43 people were injured, said the sentences were "hardly even a slap on the wrists for endangering the lives and livelihoods of so many."