Gulf of Mexico Operator Pays for Oil Discharges

ATP Oil & Gas has agreed to pay $41.85 million after actions brought against the company for the alleged discharge of oil, and attempts to hide it with dispersant, in the Gulf of Mexico.

The settlement follows investigations by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

The main settlement agreement resolves all U.S. claims against ATP in a case filed in February 2013. ATP is alleged to have discharged oil and an unauthorized chemical dispersant into the Gulf of Mexico from its production platform ATP Innovator.  

A BSEE inspection of the ATP Innovator in March 2012 revealed alleged unlawful discharges of oil and a piping configuration that routed an unpermitted dispersant into the facility’s wastewater discharge pipe to mask excess oil being discharged into the ocean.  

At the time of the discovery, ATP was the operator of the facility and ATP Infrastructure Partners was the non-operating owner. The ATP Innovator was operating in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 45 nautical miles offshore of southeastern Louisiana. The platform was removed from the deepwater production site in 2013 and towed to port in Corpus Christi, Texas.  

“ATP’s illegal and unsafe actions in the Gulf of Mexico warrant this concerted enforcement effort to deter it and others in the oil and gas industry from committing similar misconduct,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “No operator should place oil production goals ahead of protection of its workers or the marine environment.”

“This case serves as a reminder that BSEE will thoroughly investigate illegal conduct in offshore oil and gas operations and will aggressively pursue enforcement actions where appropriate,” said Director Brian Salerno of BSEE.  “We will continue to work with the Department of Justice, the EPA and our other federal partners to bring these types of actions against companies that break the law and put their workers or the environment at risk.”

ATP is going through a bankruptcy proceeding and is no longer operating.