Houston Company to Pay $9.5 Million In Penalties

The U.S. Justice Department in Washington and U.S. attorneys in New Orleans and Lafayette, Louisiana, announced that Houston-based Wood Group PSN will pay $9.5 million in penalties for Gulf of Mexico safety violations and pollution from a 2012 offshore platform fire that killed three workers on an offshore platform owned by Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations, LLC. Wood Group will pay $7 million for falsely reporting that safety inspections were performed on Gulf of Mexico facilities over several years, another $1.8 million for discharging oil into the gulf in the November 2012 explosion, and $700,000 for community service projects.

A 2013 report by federal regulators identified a several safety lapses that led to the fatal blast, and the penalties are the result of plea agreements in civil and criminal proceedings playing out in Louisiana.