Watching Government: Still producing off California

Sept. 10, 2018
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement prepared a draft programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) to evaluate potential impacts of existing oil and gas operations on the US Outer Continental Shelf off California.

The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement prepared a draft programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) to evaluate potential impacts of existing oil and gas operations on the US Outer Continental Shelf off California. “This information will be most useful to BSEE in reviewing and permitting production activities on facilities on existing BOEM-issued leases,” Acting BOEM Director Walter D. Cruickshank said on Aug. 22 as a 30-day public comment period opened on the PEA draft.

“Ensuring environmentally sustainable energy production is central to BSEE’s mission,” BSEE Director Scott A. Angelle added. “Accepting, reviewing, and approving these permits would allow for the continued orderly and environmentally sound production of oil and gas from the reservoirs on the 38 active leases located in federal waters offshore southern California.”

There are 23 platforms operating on the OCS off California, according to BOEM. Twenty produce oil and gas, one is a processing facility, and two—Platforms Gail and Grace off Southern California—are in the process of being decommissioned. But the agencies’ announcement signaled that operations are likely to continue at several others.

All existing leases on the Pacific OCS are in their production phase, the officials explained. Lessees and operators continue to request BSEE permit approvals for various associated operations, including the drilling of new well bores and sidetracks from existing wells, the installation of conductors to guide future well drilling, and a variety of downhole activities associated with enhancing production and well maintenance, they said.

These operations allow operators to maintain ongoing production, and potentially provide access to new reservoirs or increased access to residual reserves in existing fields, Cruickshank and Angelle noted.

The draft PEA analyzes the affected environmental consequences of a Proposed Action and four alternatives, BOEM and BSEE’s announcement indicated. The Proposed Action is the bureaus’ recommended approach for permitted activities in the Southern California Planning Area.

PEA’s Proposed Action

The Proposed Action for the PEA is for BSEE to continue to individually review and approve new applications for well drilling, conductor installation, temporary well abandonment, and other currently permitted downhole activities at platforms on existing Pacific OCS leases.

BOEM may also draw on the environmental analysis for any future revisions to existing development and production plans, the agencies said. The four alternatives include varying recommendations for continued acceptance, review and authorization of permit applications to alternative five, which recommends no approval of applications for permits to drill and permits to modify.

BOEM and BSEE said they would carefully review what they received once the comment period ends, revising the text of the PEA where appropriate.