BSEE extends well regs comment period

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said June 2 that is extending the public comment period for proposed new well control regulations for the drilling of offshore wells on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. The comment period had been scheduled to end on June 16 but, following requests from various stakeholders, the deadline for comments has been moved to July 16, BSEE says.

The proposed regulations include mandated safety precautions such as the use of blowout preventers with double shear rams and the implementation of technology that centers the drill pipe during a shearing operation. The shear rams are intended to cut through and seal the drill pipe in the event of a well blowout, but the off-center shifting of the pipe in the blowout preventer is believed to have been a cause of the failure of the blowout prevent in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Other requirements in the new regulations include up-to-date standards for the design, manufacture, repair and maintenance of blowout preventers; annual inspections of blowout preventer repair and maintenance records; and more rigorous third-party certification of a blowout preventer’s shearing capabilities. The regulations include performance standards for remote operated vehicles used to assist in closing blowout preventer stacks. The regulations also require shore-based, real-time monitoring of offshore drilling operations that involve deep water and high temperatures or high pressures.

- Alan Bailey