Platform Operator to Pay Millions in Penalties

The offshore oil platform operator ATP Oil & Gas Corp. has agreed to pay more than $41 million in penalties to settle claims it made unauthorized discharges of oil and chemicals from a production platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.

ATP is going through bankruptcy and is no longer operating. On Thursday the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas approved an agreement allowing an unsecured claim of $38 million for a judicial civil penalty judgment, according to the Justice Department. ATP will also pay administrative penalty of $3.85 million for related violations, it added.

"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," Assistant Attorney General John Cruden said in a statement. "No operator should place oil production goals ahead of protection of its workers or the marine environment."

Reporting by Lisa Lambert