BSEE extends offshore oil, gas development deadline to a full year

June 9, 2017

The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement extended the deadline for offshore oil and gas operators to coordinate their operations and retain their federal leases from 180 days a full year. The June 9 final rule extends the time allowed between production, drilling, or well-reworking on a lease, BSEE said.

BSEE made the move after President Donald J. Trump signed the 2017 Consolidated Appropriations Act into law on May 5, which required in its Section 121 that the rule be amended within 30 days.

The provision originally stated that a lease would expire if a lessee or operator ceased operations during the lease’s final 180 days or on a lease that has continued beyond its primary term unless the operator resumed operations or received a suspension of operations or suspension of production from BSEE’s regional supervisor within the final 180 days.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].

About the Author

Nick Snow

NICK SNOW covered oil and gas in Washington for more than 30 years. He worked in several capacities for The Oil Daily and was founding editor of Petroleum Finance Week before joining OGJ as its Washington correspondent in September 2005 and becoming its full-time Washington editor in October 2007. He retired from OGJ in January 2020.