BP has come close to at least two potentially lethal accidents as a result of shortcomings in the way it monitors the safety of its refineries and petrochemicals plants, according to an internal report seen by the Financial Times. An internal investigation last year found that the British oil group lags behind Royal Dutch Shell and other competitors in managing crucial engineering information at its downstream operations, and has an “urgent” need to address the problem. BP introduced stringent new safety procedures in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster but its internal report, obtained by Greenpeace, recorded several “near misses” at refineries and chemical plants. BP operates eight refineries worldwide, with a share in five more, giving the company the capacity to refine 1.9m barrels a day. It owns in part or in whole 16 petrochemical plants. According to the report, BP’s most serious near miss occurred in 2014 at Whiting, a vast facility near Chicago with capacity to process 413,000 barrels of crude a day that helps to fuel the Midwest.