By Josh Beckerman
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Justice Department reached a settlement with Marathon Oil resolving alleged Clean Air Act violations at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
The settlement includes a civil penalty of $64.5 million, the EPA said Thursday. The agreement would require Marathon Oil to invest in compliance measures estimated to cost $177 million, the agency said, adding that Marathon Oil "will dramatically cut its emissions of methane."
A spokesperson for the Houston-based company said "We are pleased that the settlement resolves this issue without litigation and includes mitigation measures that are consistent with our existing voluntary emissions-reduction efforts."
Marathon Oil said earlier in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it doesn't admit liability regarding any of the allegations and elected to resolve the allegations in a negotiated settlement rather than litigation.
The company has "cooperated fully with the EPA, including collecting and sharing extensive data to resolve this matter," it added.
Substantially all of the civil penalty was accrued in the first quarter, Marathon Oil said. It said in May that it had received Notices of Violation and was continuing to actively negotiate a draft consent decree with the EPA and DOJ.
The EPA said the case is the first of its kind against an oil-and-gas producer for violations of major source emissions permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act's Prevention of Significant Deterioration program.
Marathon Oil, which is in the middle of a merger with ConocoPhillips, said it doesn't expect mitigation costs, penalties and injunctive relief from the settlement will have a material adverse effect on its business or operations, or on the merger.
Write to Josh Beckerman at josh.beckerman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-11-24 1916ET
