An oil company operating in Alaska will pay $10 million for violating federal law that prohibits foreign vessels from transporting merchandise within the United States.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement on Tuesday with Furie Operating Alaska.
The company primarily operates in Cook Inlet. In 2011, it brought a drill rig to work in the Kitchen Lights unit in Cook Inlet.
But, when Furie transported the rig from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska, it used a foreign-flagged vessel without getting a waiver from the Department of Homeland Security. Waivers may be granted if no U.S. vessel is able to transport the merchandise.
Furie has been contesting the penalty since 2012. No one from the company immediately returned a phone call about the settlement.
The rig is still in Alaska, currently docked in Seward. Furie isn’t using it anymore; the company replaced it with a larger rig.
