Federal Regulations: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (formerly Minerals Management Service)

The Bureau's mission is to manage the ocean energy and mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf and Federal and American Indian mineral revenues to enhance public and trust benefits, promote responsible use, and realize fair value.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), a bureau in the U.S. Department of the Interior, is the Federal agency that manages the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). It also collects, accounts for and disburses an average of $13.7 billion per year in revenues from Federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and American Indian lands. The program is national in scope and is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The Bureau is comprised of two major programs: Offshore Energy and Minerals Management and Minerals Revenue Management. The Offshore program, which manages the mineral resources on the OCS, is comprised of three regions: Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific.

Contact

OCS Regional Offices

Disposal Practices and Applicable Regulations

The BOEMRE regulations governing oil and gas operations in the OCS are codified at 30 CFR Part 250 (Oil and Gas and Sulphur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf). Notices to Lessees (NTLs) clarify, describe, or interpret offshore regulations or standards. NTLs also may provide guidelines on special lease stipulations, explain the Bureau's interpretation of requirements, or transmit administrative information. There are two types of NTLs, those issued at the regional level, pertinent to a particular region, and those issued nationally that are effective nationwide for all BOEMRE regions. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) has published NTL No. 2009-G35, Sub-Seabed Disposal and Offshore Storage of Solid Wastes.

• Waste Disposal. In U.S. offshore areas, operators may inject exempt exploration and production (E&P) wastes that originate on the OCS into injection wells or encapsulate them in the well bore of wells that are about to be abandoned. Each application for underground waste disposal must be authorized on a case-by-case basis by the BOEMRE (see 30 CFR §250.300(b)(2)).



• Injection Criteria. If operators inject exempt E&P wastes through underground injection wells, the formation that receives the wastes must be located below the deepest underground source of drinking water, must be isolated above and below by shale layers, and may not contain any producing wells. Operators must demonstrate that injection wells have mechanical integrity.



• Encapsulation Criteria. Operators may use two different types of encapsulation for exempt E&P wastes. The first type involves the placement of the wastes directly in the well bore of a well that is being abandoned. Under the second type, wastes are placed into a section of pipe, caps are put on both ends, and the pipe section is lowered into the well bore. In both cases, the wells selected to receive the wastes must not be intersected by faults that extend upward to the sea floor and must not be located in an area with mud flows, slumps, or slides. The top of the encapsulated waste must be located at least 1,000 feet below the mudline (note that if that location is at less than 3,000 feet, the casing must be filled with cement at all depths above 3,000 feet). Encapsulated wastes must be isolated from any open annulus through placement of a 200-foot-long cement plug between the waste and the open annulus. Operators must place a cast-iron bridge plug and a 200-foot-long cement plug at the top of the wastes.

Other

• Following the large oil spill from BP's Macondo platform in April 2010, the Minerals Management Service was reorganized into the new BOEMRE. BOEMRE is evaluating revisions to its overall program. Regulatory requirements relating to drilling wastes may be changed. Readers are encouraged to check the BOEMRE website or to contact one of the regional BOEMRE offices to get up-to-date revisions.