ESCOPETA Oil has fallen foul of the US Jones Act and been fined the equivalent of the value of the jack-up drilling rig Spartan 151 … about $15million, for using a foreign-flagged vessel to transport the rig from Texas to Alaska’s Cook Inlet.
The fine was imposed by the US Customs & Border Protection Agency by its office in Anchorage, Akaska, though the company has 60 days in which to file a petition asking for the fine to be rescinded or reduced. Escopeta denies breaking any laws.
The US cabotage laws, commonly referred to as the Jones Act, require all commercial vessels transporting merchandise between ports in the United States to be built, owned, operated and manned by American citizens and to be registered under the US fl ag.
The law applies to any vessel operating between two US ports, whether in the continental United States, or non-contiguous states of Hawaii and Alaska, and also Puerto Rico.