BP America pays $5 million civil penalty for misleading reports on Southern Ute tribal lands

DENVER – BP America Inc. has paid a $5 million civil penalty for submitting false, inaccurate or misleading reports for energy production on Southern Ute Indian Tribal lands in southwestern Colorado.

The U.S. Department of the Interior says BP America initially requested a hearing on the civil penalty but decided to pay up instead.

The agency says auditors found that BP used incorrect royalty rates and prices for royalty payments. BP also reported well production for the wrong leases.

The company attributed the errors to problems with automated files.