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UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE
GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION
| NTL No.
98-26 |
Effective Date: November 30,
1998 |
NOTICE TO LESSEES AND OPERATORS
OF FEDERAL OIL, GAS, AND SULPHUR
LEASES IN THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF, GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION
Minimum Interim Requirements for
Site Clearance (and Verification) of
Abandoned Oil and Gas Structures in the Gulf of Mexico
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes NTL No. 92-02. It is
issued to update the cited regulatory authorities and to include a statement
regarding the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
This NTL is provided under the authority of 30 CFR 250.104(b). According to
30 CFR 250.105(a), 250.702(i), 250.704, 250.913(a), (b), and (c), and Section 22
of the Lease Agreement pertaining to removal of property on termination of the
lease, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) has established a program designed
to ensure that any object (i.e., wellheads, platforms, etc.) installed on an
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) lease is properly removed and the site cleared so
as not to conflict with other uses of the OCS.
- Sections 250.702(i) and 250.913(b) of the
regulations require lessees (or operators) to clear all abandoned well and
platform locations of all obstructions present as a result of oil and gas
activities. For clearance purposes, the locations are defined as:
- Exploratory or delineation wells drilled
with a Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) - The area covered by a
300-foot-radius circle centered on the well.
- Platforms - The area covered by a
1,320-foot-radius circle centered on the platform geometric center.
- Single well caissons and well protectors
- The area covered by a 600-foot-radius circle centered on the well.
- The lessee (you) must develop and submit a
procedural plan for site clearance verification of platform or structure
abandonments (paragraphs 1b and c above) to the MMS Regional Supervisor, Field
Operations, for approval with the permit application for platform or structure
removal. For well abandonments (paragraph 1a above), you must submit a similar
plan to the District Supervisor for approval with the Sundry Notices and
Reports on Well for well abandonment (Form MMS-124). As a minimum, you must
verify site clearance by the applicable method listed in paragraph 2a. Vessels
used for site clearance verification operations must be equipped with a
navigational positioning system capable of providing position accuracy of ±30
feet. The navigational system proposed for use must be identified in the
procedural plan.
- Sites defined in paragraphs 1b and c
above and located in water depths less than 300 feet must have their
locations trawled over 100 percent of their limits in two directions (i.e.,
N-S and E-W) by a trawling contractor who has no corporate or other
financial ties to the company that performed the salvage work. Sites defined
in paragraph 1a above need not be trawled, but must have a high frequency (
500 KHz) sonar search conducted over the defined area, and the sonar
instrument operating frequency scanning range and deployment method
(stationary or towed) must be stated in the procedural plan submitted for
approval.
- Trawling contractors performing site
clearance verification work must possess a valid commercial trawling
license from one of the States of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama,
or Florida, for both the vessel and its captain. Further, the captain must
have prior experience in trawling operations.
- The trawling vessel used in
verification activities must be equipped with a calibrated navigation
system capable of producing a real-time paper track plot of the vessel
position or capable of producing a hard-copy post plot on board the vessel
of all or any specific lines in order to verify that the area has been
satisfactorily covered prior to departure of the trawling vessel. The
track of the vessel on the plot must be shown as a continuous line and the
track plot must have a minimum scale of 1 inch = 400 feet (1:4800).
- The trawling vessel must be outfitted
with trawling nets that are representative of the accepted shrimping
industry standard of up to No. 18 twine (ribbon strength) size net
strength. These nets must not be equipped with Turtle Excluder
Devices (TED's), since they may serve as escape openings for objects
picked up by the trawl. Trawls are to be picked up after a maximum drag
time of 30 minutes and all shrimp caught in the trawl are to be released.
The Eighth Coast Guard District Law Enforcement Branch should be notified
of any site clearance verification trawling operations (where TED's are
not used) 48 hours prior to commencing such activities. Further, when
trawling is conducted in areas where pipelines, shipwrecks, or hangs
(i.e., fisherman's contingency fund hangs) are known to exist, the
following guidelines apply:
- There are no restrictions to be
placed on the trawling procedure or pattern for abandoned pipelines. It
is the responsibility of the lessee (or operator) performing the site
clearance verification activities to contact the former pipeline owner
(or operator) and determine whether the pipeline will cause an
obstruction to unrestricted trawling operations.
- In general, trawling should not be
conducted closer than 300 feet to any existing shipwreck, but this
distance may be reduced depending on the conditions existing at a
particular site.
- Active pipelines that are buried, and
for which no obstructions (such as valves) exist above the mud line, are
to be trawled without any restrictions placed on the trawling procedure
or pattern. It is the responsibility of the lessee (or operator)
performing the site clearance verification activities to contact the
pipeline owner (or operator) and determine the condition of the
pipelines within the area to be trawled.
- For unburied active pipelines that
are eight inches in diameter or larger, and for unburied smaller
diameter pipelines that have obstructions (e.g., valves) present,
trawling must be conducted no closer than 100 feet to either side and in
the same direction as (parallel to) the pipeline. Trawling must not be
conducted across the pipeline.
- For unburied active pipelines that
are smaller than eight inches in diameter and have no obstructions
present, trawling is to be conducted parallel to the direction of the
pipeline and trawling on top of the pipeline is acceptable. Trawling
must not be carried out across the pipeline.
- We recommend that the operator or
trawling contractor contact the MMS "Fisherman's Contingency Fund Hangs
Data Base" to see if any recorded hangs are located within the area to
be trawled.
- Trawling grid patterns must be as
follows for the trawling equipment specified:
- 40-foot grid pattern for vessels
trawling with two 50- to 65-foot nets or four 30-foot nets.
- 60-foot grid pattern for vessels
trawling with two 66- to 80-foot nets or four 31- to 40-foot nets.
- 80-foot grid pattern for vessels
trawling with two 81-foot or larger nets or four 41-foot or larger nets.
- The Regional Supervisor, Field Operations
must approve any modification of the trawling requirements at a site. You
must remove all oil- and gas-related objects encountered by the trawl from
the seabed and report as specified below unless we approve otherwise. You
must remove any snag on a grid line that is not recovered by the trawl and
retrawl the line. For those cases where the trawling effort is interrupted
for any reason and then resumed, specification of the necessary overlap of
areas trawled (or to be trawled) to ensure 100 percent coverage of the
location must be at the discretion of the trawling contractor.
- For a well site (paragraph 1a), you must
notify the District Supervisor at least 48 hours prior to conducting the
clearance survey. For a caisson or platform site (paragraph 1b or c), you
must notify the Regional Supervisor, Field Operations, at least 48 hours in
advance.
-
- Unless we approve otherwise, within 60
days after you complete a platform or structure removal/abandonment
operation, you must complete site clearance verification as specified in the
approved plan. Until site clearance verification procedures have been
completed, you must mark the location as a hazard to navigation in
accordance with U.S. Coast Guard regulations, unless we approve otherwise.
- No later than 30 days after you complete
site clearance verification activities, you must submit all reports, forms,
and letters to the MMS. As appropriate, you must include the following:
- The date(s) the work was performed and
the vessel involved.
- A statement from the trawling
contractor that no objects were recovered, or categorical descriptions and
estimated size, quantity, volume, and general location of the objects that
were recovered in each category during the trawling activities. The
trawler must note the contents of the nets on each trawling pass. However,
objects weighing less than 40 pounds and that are of such a shape or
configuration that they are unlikely to snag or damage shrimping or
fishing devices need not be recorded. Categories of recovered debris to be
reported include, but are not limited to, the following:
| (a) pipe |
(d) structural shapes |
(g) long wire rope |
| (b) grating |
(e) large tires |
(h) large hoses |
| (c) plate |
(f) batteries |
|
Additionally, items recovered from diver-assisted snag
removals as well as instances of torn nets must be recorded as described
above.
- Details and results of the trawling
operations, i.e., post-trawling job plot or map showing (minimum scale
1"=200') the pattern in which the trawl was pulled, the size and
description of the trawl, grid line numbers corresponding to those used in
the trawler's report, center location latitude and longitude, the
positioning system and calibration method(s) used, and any interruptions
experienced during the survey.
- A letter signed by an authorized
lessee/operator company representative stating that he/she witnessed the
verification trawling survey (submit with Form MMS-124 or report of
platform or structure removal).
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Statement: The Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) requires us to inform you that we
collect this information to ensure that any object (i.e., wellheads, platforms,
etc.) installed on an OCS lease is properly removed and the site cleared so as
not to conflict with other uses of the OCS. Responses are mandatory. No
proprietary information is collected. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and
a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number.
We estimate the reporting burden for the collection of information discussed in
this NTL to average 6 hours per response, including the time for reviewing
instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the
information. Direct comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect
of this notice to the Information Collection Clearance Officer, Mail Stop 4230,
Minerals Management Service, Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20240; and to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Attn: Desk Officer for the Department of the Interior (OMB control number
1010-0058), Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.
This NTL also refers to information collection requirements in 30 CFR 250,
Subpart G, and on Form MMS-124 (OMB control numbers 1010-0079 and 1010-0045,
respectively).
If you have any questions on this NTL, please contact Mr. Arvind Shah at
(504) 736-2894.
Chris C. Oynes
Regional Director
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