Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor
WASHINGTON, DC, Nov. 10 -- Producers drilling for oil and gas on a federal deepwater lease will have to submit statements signed by authorized company officials that the operators have complied with the new drilling safety rule and all other regulations, the US Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Offshore Management, Regulation and Enforcement jointly announced.
The announcement came as a notice to lessees (NTL). US Interior Sec. Ken Salazar said the compliance statements will make lease operators more responsible and accountable in response to advance oversight he outlined as he lifted his deepwater drilling moratorium on Oct. 12.
The NTL also confirms that BOEMRE will be evaluating whether each operator has submitted adequate information to demonstrate that it has access to, and can deploy, subsea blowout containment resources that would be significant enough to promptly respond to a deepwater blowout or other loss of well control. This information is relevant to the evaluation of operators’ compliance with current spill response regulations, the Nov. 8 announcement indicated.
The requirement applies to operators using subsea blowout preventers or having surface BOPs on floating facilities, DOI and BOEMRE said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
