BP cleared of safety violations in Atlantis investigation

An Interior Department investigation cleared BP on Friday of major safety violations on its massive Atlantis Gulf of Mexico oil-and-gas platform.

The investigation took on new weight after last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Lawmakers called on the Interior Department to quickly complete its investigation of the Atlantis platform, raising safety concerns.

A former BP contractor sued the company in 2009, alleging it did not keep copies of engineering documents on the platform. Interior’s Bureau of Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) conducted an investigation into the allegations.

The investigation found the former contractors’ allegations were “without merit.”

“Based on a thorough review of the evidence, the investigation found the majority of the allegations to be unfounded, but did find that there were a number of problems with the way that BP organized, stored, and labeled engineering drawings and documents,” a BOEMRE statement said Friday. “BOEMRE found no evidence that these documentation deficiencies created specific unsafe conditions on the Atlantis production platform.”

During the investigation, BOEMRE did discover that BP has not filed drawings showing changes to safety systems. When BOEMRE cited BP with an infraction, the company quickly provided the drawings and was not hit with a penalty, BOEMRE said.

The investigation included “interviews of 29 individuals, analysis of more than 3,400 engineering drawings and related documents, and review of hundreds of additional documents,” BOEMRE said Friday.