WASHINGTON - The Obama administration imposed new safety requirements for offshore drilling, paving the way for energy companies to resume oil and gas exploration in shallow waters after private inspectors sign off on their operations.
The move on Tuesday effectively lifts a ban on shallow-water drilling, though companies could spend weeks - or months - trying to comply with the mandates for new equipment testing and other safeguards before they will be allowed to resume operations at depths of 500 feet or less.
Continued shallow-water drilling also hinges on energy companies retooling their exploration plans and possibly conducting new environmental assessments under "expanded requirements" that the Interior Department said it would issue soon.
Although the new safety rules apply to oil and gas exploration in all federal waters, a ban on drilling in deeper depths will continue for at least six months.
People are also reading…
"We must ensure that offshore drilling is conducted safely and in compliance with the law," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, in issuing the requirements, which respond to vulnerabilities revealed during an Interior Department review of the industry and the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
The rules stiffen standards for the barriers at underwater wells and the blowout preventers that are designed to staunch an uncontrolled flow of oil and gas - both of which appeared to fail at BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico.
But the mandates mark a major change in how the federal government oversees the industry by transferring the burden for drilling safety inspections away from federal investigators, and putting it in the hands of professional engineers and other independent analysts who would be required to sign off on well plans and equipment.
"This shifts the cost and accountability of verification, certification and inspection from the government directly to the leaseholder," said Lee Hunt, the director of the Independent Association of Drilling Contractors.
Drilling contractors and energy companies who have complained about the economic damage of a long-term ban on shallow-water drilling were struggling to make sense of the new rules Tuesday.
The Interior Department provided little guidance to the industry beyond the scope of the eight-page "notice to lessees" that outlined the new requirements.
"As specific as this is, there is still ambiguity," Hunt said, and "there are a lot of details to be worked out here."
Salazar is expected to shed more light on the requirements today when he testifies about drilling safety before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
