BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company by market value, reported a crude oil spill inside an electrical manhole at its Carson, California, refinery, according to a state regulatory filing.

The 200 barrels of oil may have ``potentially come from a leaking pipe,'' the company said in a report to the state's emergency services office yesterday. BP is using vacuum trucks to remove the crude from the manhole.

Carson, the second-largest refinery in California, can process 265,500 barrels of oil a day, according to the U.S. Energy Department. Chevron Corp.'s El Segundo refinery is the state's largest.