Bankrupt Black Elk Energy Convicted for Offshore Explosion

Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC, a bankrupt company, has been convicted of eight felony violations and a misdemeanor in connection with a 2012 explosion that killed three workers and injured several others on an offshore oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana ordered Black Elk to pay a $4.2 million penalty. The court accepted a plea agreement filed May 12 that included the felony violations of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act and the misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act (USA v. Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC, E.D. La., No. 2:15-cr-197, 8/31/17