Maritime Lawyer Explains BOEMRE's Investigation of BP Atlantis Platform

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has been looking into allegations that BP has failed to maintain required copies of engineer-approved drawings in regards to its Atlantis deepwater drilling platform located in the Gulf of Mexico. BOEMRE’s findings were released on Friday, March 4, 2011.

BP has been under scrutiny since the Deepwater Horizon explosion that claimed the lives of 11 maritime workers in April 2010. The rig explosion resulted in the federal government issuing deepwater drilling moratoriums affecting thousands of jobs.

The investigation was a result of a lawsuit filed by a former BP contractor that claimed that BP failed to properly maintain the engineer-approved “as built” drawings of systems and structures aboard the Atlantis deepwater drilling platform. The contractor made allegations that these actions created safety hazards for not only the platform, but for personnel as well.

BOEMRE determined that the majority of the allegations were unfounded. However, they did cite that there were many problems with the way the oil producing giant organized, stored and labeled engineering drawings and documents.

“This report reflects a careful and comprehensive investigation of the allegations by an interdisciplinary team of lawyers, structural engineers, and other BOEMRE personnel, led by our Investigations and Review Unit,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich.

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