Remember the tale of Taylor Energy, the owner of some Gulf of Mexico oil platforms that were destroyed by Hurricane Ivan and spewed an immense disaster, before being capped by li’l old Couvillion Group? Well, gCaptain notes that Taylor Energy is going under:
Louisiana oil and gas company Taylor Energy will be liquidated and required to turn over all its remaining assets to the United States to resolve its liability for an oil spill at its former Gulf of Mexico offshore oil production facility — the source of the longest-running oil spill in U.S. history which has been ongoing since 2004.
Under a proposed consent decree announced Wednesday by the U.S. Justice Department, Taylor Energy will transfer to the Department of the Interior (DOI) a $432 million trust fund dedicated to plugging the subsea oil wells, permanently decommissioning the facility, and remediating contaminated soil. The consent decree further requires Taylor Energy to pay over $43 million for civil penalties, removal costs and natural resource damages.
The settlement comes after the U.S. filed a civil complaint against Taylor Energy in District Court in New Orleans in October 2020 seeking removal costs, civil penalties and natural resource damages under the Oil Pollution and Clean Water Acts arising from the discharge of oil from facility.
Not that Taylor Energy didn’t try, according to earlier reports, but they were inadequate to the task. Closure.
