BSEE issues updated offshore oil and gas safety regulations

The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement released updated offshore oil and gas production safety and environmental regulations which it says reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens while ensuring that operations remain safe and environmentally responsible.

The new rule becomes effective 60 days after its scheduled publication in the Federal Register on the 28^th September.

BSEE said the Oil and Gas Production Safety Systems Rule (PSSR), also known as Subpart H, addresses safety and pollution prevention equipment, subsea safety devices, and safety device testing for oil and gas production on the US Outer Continental Shelf.

Following executive and secretarial orders that were issued in 2017, BSEE said it analysed all 484 provisions in the original 2016 Production Safety Systems Rule and determined that 84 of those provisions – less than 18% of the original rule – could be revised or deleted. The final rule also adds seven new provisions, it noted.

BSEE said it compared all provisions in the final rule with the 424 recommendations arising from 26 separate reports from 14 different organisations developed in response to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and Macondo well blowout in the gulf which killed 11 people and spilled 4.9 million bbl of oil on the 20^th April 2010.

The agency then determined that these changes to Subpart H will not contradict or ignore any of those recommendations, nor will they alter any provision of the 2016 rule in a way which would make the result inconsistent with those recommendations.

Nothing in this final rule will alter any elements of other rules promulgated since the Deepwater Horizon incident, including the October 2010 Drilling Safety Rule, the October 2010 Safety and Environment Management Systems (SEMS) Rule 1, the April 2013 SEMS Rule 2, and the April 2016 Well Control Rule, BSEE said.

“BSEE approached revising the 2016 [PSSR] with a thoughtful and laser-like focus,” said Scott Angelle, the agency’s director. “The review team, comprised of career subject matter experts, used a scalpel, rather than a chainsaw, to make these revisions.”

In addition to measures that reduce unnecessary notifications and clarify when operators must provide documentation, the new final rule codifies 12 updated industry standards, BSEE said. The newly codified standards now will become enforceable regulation, it added.

Source: Oil & Gas Journal