Regulation

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) Wednesday issued the results of a nearly year-long investigation into the cause of a September 2010 fire aboard a Mariner Energy Inc. oil and natural gas platform that forced its crew to evacuate.

American Petroleum Institute (API) CEO Jack Gerard said regulation of the nation’s shale gas plays would best be handled by state government and cautioned against involvement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) signed the 2011 Shale Reservoir Development Act into law on Wednesday. The measure is designed to protect stakeholders, clarifies the jurisdiction of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) and modifies the state’s oil and gas laws to address advances in technology.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has approved its 10th permit for drilling in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico — this one for Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC to drill a new well (Well No. 1) in the Walker Ridge Block 969 in 7,813 feet of water, approximately 219 miles off the Louisiana shoreline. Statoil had a rig under contract and an approved permit to drill a new well when activities in the Gulf were suspended following the explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig. Statoil has contracted with the Marine Well Containment Co. to stop the flow of oil in the event of a blowout.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) issued its ninth permit for drilling in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico — this time to Murphy Exploration & Production Co. to drill well No. A008 in Green Canyon Block 338 in 3,325 feet of water, 170 miles southwest of New Orleans. Murphy’s well No. A008 is a sidetrack well, which will be drilled to a new geologic target or a new location within the original target from the existing wellbore, according to BOEM. The operator had a rig on location when drilling activities in the Gulf were suspended following the blowout of BP plc’s Macondo well. Murphy has contracted with Helix Well Containment Group to stop the flow of oil in the event of a blowout.

In an attempt to answer “recurring” questions from the oil and gas industry, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) last week issued additional guidance “summarizing and clarifying” previously issued offshore deepwater drilling safety requirements.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) has approved its sixth permit — this one for Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC — to drill in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Since the lifting of the federal moratorium on offshore drilling last October, it is the second permit to be issued to drill a new well. The first one went to Chevron USA Inc.

In an attempt to answer “recurring” questions from the oil and gas industry, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) Monday issued additional guidance “summarizing and clarifying” previously issued offshore deepwater drilling safety requirements.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement’s (BOEM) permit-issuing process for deepwater drilling is gathering steam. The Interior Department agency last week approved two more permits for drilling in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM), bringing the total permits issued for resumption of activity in the deepwater to five. One of the deepwater permits — to Chevron USA Inc. — is the first to allow completely new exploration since the federal moratorium was lifted last October.