The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement issued a final rule for offshore oil development Thursday, dictating how to safely drill into oil reservoirs with extremely high temperatures and pressure.
The offshore oil industry has increasingly shifted toward drilling into deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico, where in some cases the oil reservoir pressure exceeds 15,000 pounds per square inch and temperatures top 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
BSEE’s new requirements are a response to the high risks of drilling in these areas. It was at a high-pressure prospect in 2010 that a failed blowout preventer in an exploratory well led to an explosion that killed 11 men and sank the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.
The final rule orders drillers to use specific equipment for the barriers that protect people and the environment from high-pressure oil reservoirs. It also revises how federal regulators consider projects with high pressure and high temperatures. BSEE, which is part of the Interior Department, will now require in some cases that an independent third-party review whether a project is viable or safe.
