The newly-formed "Bureau of Ocean Energy Management" levied their first fine against BP Oil for “submitting false, misleading, or inaccurate” reports in respect to Natural gas production on Southern Ute Tribal land in Colorado.
Although Tribal auditors notified BP Oil of the errors three years ago, the company continued to drag its feet when it came to acknowledging - and correcting - the discrepancies singled out by the Tribe’s leaders.
Allegedly, BP oil failed to correctly report royalty rates, sales prices, and production data related to the leases in Utah.
BP racked up a staggering 25, 949 violations which triggered fines totaling 5.2 million.
A spokesperson for BP blamed “coding errors” on the glaring irregularities.
According to the Government, the whopping penalties were warranted to reflect a pattern of behavior that flagrantly disregarded the importance of proper record-keeping.
“It is simply unacceptable for companies to repeatedly misreport production, particularly when it interferes with the auditing process,” summed up Michael Bromwich, director of the Ocean Energy Management agency.
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