Hercules Offshore listed in $160,000 penalty for failed alarm inspection in ‘06

The Department of the Interior issued a $160,000 penalty for a gas detector monitor violation in 2006.  Both the names of Noble Energy, Inc. and Hercules Offshore appeared in the Minerals Management Service Civil/Criminal Penalties Summary regarding a failed inspection of the panel that monitored the shale shaker area and mud pit room; it was discovered in a bypass mode because the operator did not remember to turn it back on after calibrating the sensors. The audible alarm did not activate when the panel was taken out of bypass.

Source: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management