Drilling Firm Fakes Safety Records, Pays $6.4M Fine

Tulsa, OK – In a shocking case of corporate malfeasance, Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company (H&PIDC) pleaded guilty to knowingly making and delivering false writings in connection with their drilling activities in the Gulf of Mexico. The company, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was sentenced to pay a total monetary penalty of $6.4 million and placed on a three-year term of probation.

According to court documents, from October 14, 2009, until May 27, 2010, H&PIDC owned and operated drilling Rig 206. The rig was contracted by the lessee of a federal mineral lease to conduct oil drilling operations on MC 109 in the Gulf of Mexico. During this time, five H&PIDC employees deliberately did not test a number of valves on the choke manifold because they knew or believed that certain valves would leak.

The employees created false blowout preventer test charts and pressure charts by closing manifold valves behind the ones they knew or believed would leak. When inspectors arrived onboard Rig 206 for inspections, the crew provided them with the falsified test charts and pressure charts. The former H&PIDC employees falsified the testing records for the benefit of the defendant, H&PIDC, to minimize downtime and costs associated with repairs.

Within 24 hours of notification that an employee on Rig 206 had deliberately falsified choke manifold tests, executives at H&PIDC notified the leaseholder and requested that the leaseholder notify personnel at the agency now known as BSEE that persons on Rig 206 had falsified the choke manifold tests by falsely reporting that every valve on the choke manifold was successfully pressure tested.

The $6.4 million fine includes a one-million-dollar community service payment to the National Academy of Sciences for funding research to improve and promote offshore industry safety culture. During the three-year term of probation, H&PIDC is subject to an environmental compliance plan (ECP), which requires the company to develop and implement training and safety culture programs.

This case serves as a stark reminder of the dangers of corporate malfeasance and the importance of prioritizing safety and transparency in the drilling industry.

In related news, the company terminated four of the employees who participated in the test falsification and demoted the one employee involved in the falsification who reported the conduct to the company.