An investigation by the Department of the Interior uncovered serious safety oversight lapses aboard a drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2012, Sean Granger, an employee of Pioneer Energy Services, Inc., was found by the department to have illegally manipulated readings on the rig’s blowout gauge in order to “compensate for poorly functioning testing equipment.”
The sleight of hand, interior said, made it it impossible for inspectors to determine if the device was working properly.
The discrepancies were discovered during a “routine inspection” by the department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement after officials “found suspicious test documentation for a blowout preventer.”
A failure of the blowout preventer aboard BP’s Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon rig in 2010 led to the largest marine oil spill in the planet’s history.
The Department of Interior’s Inspector General released the findings in a summary report on Monday, noting that the matter had already been referred to the US Attorney’s Office in Louisiana. Granger pleaded guilty in November 2014 to violating the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act by knowingly tampering with safety equipment. He was slapped with a $3,000 fine and three years probation.
Of note, the IG also concluded that it “did not find a pattern of similar conduct by other Pioneer employees, or by employees of the operator assigned to the offshore lease.”
The company operates drilling rigs throughout the United States in Texas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and North Dakota. It also performs drilling services in Bogota, Columbia.
