The Department of the Interior on Thursday issued a final offshore well control rule targeting the safe operation of blowout preventers. The rule comes after years of collaboration between industry, government and academic groups over how to prevent another disaster on the scale of 2010’s Deepwater Horizon blowout, which resulted in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It offers more flexibility to drillers than the draft version of the rule that was proposed last April.
The rule uses current industry standards to establish baseline requirements for the design, manufacture, repair and maintenance of blowout preventers (BOP) and sets more controls for the maintenance and repair of BOPs. It requires the use of dual shear rams in deepwater BOPs and requires technology that centers the drill pipe during shearing. The rule also provides more clarity and flexibility on safe drilling margins.
The failure of a BOP resulted in the spill of nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.
The American Petroleum Institute said it was reviewing the rule and stressed the need to address elements of the initial proposal that could have made offshore drilling less safe. Specifically, API said the draft rule recommended shifting operational decision making from rig site personnel to offsite personnel.
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