The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) collected $3.1 million in civil penalties from offshore producers in calendar year 2007 for violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA).

An estimated $3,106,000 was paid by producers last year for 36 violations on the federal Outer Continental Shelf. With the exception of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., which was penalized $15,000, all of the producers that paid penalties in 2007 were independent operators.

Dominion Exploration & Production Inc. was assessed the largest single penalty — $697,500 — for operating a well for 279 days after being denied a request to do so. It was followed by Apache Corp., which paid a civil penalty of $446,000 for failing to conduct a test on a blowout preventer, related equipment, choke valve, kill valve, kill line check valve and choke manifold, as well as other violations.

Other producers paying dearly for a single violation included Houston Exploration Co., $317,500; Merit Energy Co., $220,000; NCX Co. LLC, $170,000; Maritech Resources Inc., $162,500; and Pogo Producing Co., $120,000.

Several well-known independent producers were assessed multiple civil penalties in 2007. Forest Oil paid $190,000 for three separate violations; Apache paid $32,000 for two additional violations; Devon Energy Production paid $35,000 for two separate violations; Maritech Resources paid an additional $30,000 for a second violation; Pogo Producing paid an additional $15,000 for a separate violation; and Merit Energy paid an additional $10,000 for another violation.

The list of violators was published in the Federal Register on Monday. “Publishing the penalties summary provides information to the public on violations of special concern in Outer Continental Shelf operations and provides an additional incentive for safe and environmentally responsible operations,” said MMS Director Randall Luthi.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 authorizes the Interior secretary to impose a maximum civil penalty of $20,000 per violation for each day of noncompliance with the OCSLA.

MMS reported that between August 1990 and January 2008 it initiated 623 civil penalty reviews that resulted in 498 civil penalties. It said operators paid a total of $18.59 million in fines during that period.

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