BP Plc's Atlantis facility, its second-largest oil producer in the Gulf of Mexico, remains unsafe and is operating under permits BP obtained by lying to regulators, a whistleblower said in court filings.

“Immediate court action is needed to remedy unsafe conditions on Atlantis,” Mikal Watts, an attorney for former BP contractor Kenneth Abbott, said in papers filed yesterday seeking a trial date in federal court in Houston, where the case has been pending since 2009.

“BP has falsely certified compliance with critical environmental and safety regulations” to pump billions of dollars in petroleum from the offshore facility, the lawyer said. “BP's corporate policy and practice is to buy its way out after it is caught and then do it again.”