Offshore Oil Spill Response Plans

Jodie Connor

J. Connor Consulting, Inc.

Houston Bar Association

Environmental Section

October 9, 2013

• Jurisdiction

• Applicability

• Content of OSRP

• Post Deep Water Horizon

• New Requirements

Oil Spill Response Plan

OPA Jurisdiction for Prevention and Planning

»USCG for vessels & onshore marine-transportation related facilities

»EPA for onshore oil storage facilities

»DOT-PHMSA for onshore oil transmission pipelines

»MMS – now BSEE for offshore facilities

Reorganization of MMS

• The re-organization from MMS to BOEMRE to BOEM and BSEE

Reorganization

Sec. of the Interior Sally Jewel

BSEE Brian Salerno

•Permits •Inspections •Spill Response

BOEM Tommy Beaudreau

•Leasing •NEPA Analysis •Resource Evaluation

IRU •Investigate Allegations of Misconduct

ONRR Gregory Gould • Revenue Collections

Asst. Secretary Policy, Management & Budget

Rhea S. Suh

Asst. Secretary Land & Minerals Management

Tommy Beaudreau

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement

• Inspections - Enforcement

• Permitting - Environmental Compliance

• Safety Management - Oil Spill Response Plans

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)

Office of the Director Investigations & Review Unit

Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs

Research & Standards Branch

Regulations Development Br.

Inspection & Enforcement Br.

Operational Safety Branch

National Offshore Training Center

GOMR Training Center

Oil Spill Response Division

Regional Oil Spill Response

Environmental Enforcement

Division

Regional Environmental Enforcement

Deputy Director CFO

GOM OCS Regional Director

Production & Development

Regional Field Operations

Oil Spill Response

District Field Operations

BSEE Personnel Resources

Personnel Pre-DWH Current Budgeted

Engineers 69 97 228

Inspectors 36 100 155

Oil Spill Response Division 5 10 22

Environmental Enforcement Division

0 9 38

OPA Provisions

• Responsible Party is liable for removal costs & damages • Operators must maintain a current spill response plan • Plan must identify a Qualified Individual (QI) • RP must prove financial responsibility

BSEE Oil Spill Response Plan Requirements 30 CFR 254

• Owners or Operators of an oil handling, storage, or transportation facility seaward of the coast line, must submit an OSRP to BSEE for approval prior to operating.

• Facility means structure(s), equipment or device:

– Exploring for, drilling for, producing, storing, handling, transferring, processing or transporting oil

• The OSRP must be maintained until all operated facilities are physically removed

Regulatory Citations

Regulatory Reference

Title

30 CFR Part 254 Oil Spill Response Requirements for Facilities Located Seaward of the Coast Line

NTL 2012 N06 Guidance to Owners and Operators of Offshore Facilities Seaward of the Coast Line Concerning Regional OSRPs

NTL 2012 N07 Oil Discharge Written Follow-up Reports

NTL 2013 N02 Significant Change to OSRP Worst Case Discharge Scenario

API OSRP Guidelines

• American Petroleum Institute – Joint Industry

Task Force

• Guidelines for Offshore Oil Spill Response Plans

• API Technical Report 1145

• Published September 2013 (128 pp)

Site Specific or Regional OSRP

• Options:

– Site Specific Oil Spill Response Plan – Individual facilities

– Regional Oil Spill Response Plan - Entire GOM

– Or Regional and Sub-Regional Oil Spill Response Plans

• Central and Western Area Leases (Regional)

• Eastern Area Leases (Sub-Regional)

Regional and Sub-Regional OSRP

Plan Submission

• All facilities must be covered under an approved OSRP • OSRPs must be:

– Reviewed every two years and changes submitted – Kept up-to-date; operations must be in compliance

with the Plan. • Significant modifications must be submitted to BSEE

within 15 days: – Reductions in response capability – Change to any worst case discharge scenario – Changes to QI/Spill Management Team

Essential Elements of OSRP

• Identification of

– Company and Affiliates covered under OSRP

– Qualified Individuals

– Spill Management Team (Use Incident Command System)

– Incident Command Post

– Contracted response equipment & operating personnel

– Areas of special economic and environmental sensitivity

– Strategies and Tactics

– Worst Case Discharge Scenarios and Response

– Internal and External Notifications

• Facility Information • Training & Drills • Quick Guide

Company and Type Facilities

• Provide the corporate name and identification number for all companies

• If OSRP is submitted by parent company, or if multiple companies are listed, describe the corporate relationship

• Type of Facilities Covered

Type of Facility Yes No

MODUs

OCS Structures

OCS ROW Pipelines

State Structures

State Pipelines

BSEE Definition of a Qualified Individual

• An English-speaking representative of an owner or

operator:

– located in the United States

– available on a 24-hour basis

– with full authority to:

• obligate funds toward the clean up

• carry out removal actions

• communicate with the appropriate Federal

officials and the spill response organization

Spill Management Team

• Spill Management Teams are trained persons identified in the plan who staff the organizational structure to manage a spill response

• May be an internal or contracted SMT

• Include Source Control

Incident Command Post

• List the location of pre-designated Incident Command Post

• The SMT would report here during a response. It should have sufficient communications to direct the response

Response Equipment & Personnel

• RP must have sufficient response equipment and trained personnel (under contract) to contain and recover their WCD

• Three major spill response equipment providers:

– Clean Gulf Associates (CGA)

– Marine Spill Response Corp (MSRC)

– National Response Corp (NRCC)

• Oil Spill Response Equipment located in GOM – Clean Gulf Associates – Marine Spill Response Corporation – National Response Corporation

Asset Pre-DWH Post-DWH

Skimming – Recovery

Capacity (Barrels per Day)

445,000 1,200,000+

Dispersant (Gallons) 74,190 83,109+

In-Situ Burn Boom (Feet) 6,000 20,000+

Preparedness Post DWH

Response Strategies

• Response Strategies

– Mechanical Recovery

– Dispersants

– In situ Burn

– Shoreline Protection

Worst Case Discharge Scenario

• The OSRP requires up to five Worst Case Discharge Scenarios:

– Production facilities/pipelines - shoreline to 10 miles

– Production facilities/pipelines >10 miles

– Drilling - shoreline to 10 miles

– Drilling - >10 miles

– Drilling/production operations in the Flower Gardens Oil Spill Planning Area

Flower Garden Banks

National Marine Sanctuary

Stetson Bank East Flower

Garden Bank West Flower Garden Bank

Facility Worst Case Discharge

• For a production facility, the sum of:

– Maximum capacity of all storage tanks & flow lines on the facility (flow lines can be estimated)

– The volume of oil calculated to leak from a break in any pipelines (lease term only; ROW pipelines have their own WCD calculation) connected to the facility and

– The daily production volume from an uncontrolled blowout of the highest capacity well associated with the facility (one day volume, vs. four days for calculating OSFR).

Pipeline system detection time + SD response time (assume automatic shutdown)

X

Highest measured oil flow rate over past 12-months (for new pipelines use predicted oil flow rate)

+

Total volume of oil that would leak from pipeline after it is shut in

(consider effects of hydrostatic pressure, gravity, frictional wall forces,

length of pipeline segment, tie-ins with other pipelines, etc)

ROW Pipeline WCD OSFR & OSRP

Oil Spill Response Plan BSEE NTL 2012-N06

Supersedes NTL 2006-G21

NTL No. 2012 N-06

Issued: August 10, 2012

Effective: Plans submitted after October 1, 2012

Most changes stem from lessons learned from DWH

• QI must have full authority to obligate funds toward cleanup, including subsea containment resources

• Align OSRPs with Area Contingency Plans and Regional Response Plans

• Provide Subsea Containment information

NTL No. 2012 N-06 • List all operated leases (active or inactive)

• Addition of new category WCD – Drilling <10 miles

• Revised WCD “rating” schedule for structures

• Contractual access to wildlife response providers

NTL No. 2012 N-06

• Procedure to retain and preserve copies of

internal reporting documents

• Sufficient Source Control staff for 24-hr operations

• Subsea well control and containment training dates

• Increase information on sea mammal/turtle rescue & rehab

Response Equipment & Personnel

• Demonstrate sufficient response equipment and trained personnel (under contract) to contain and recover your WCD

• BSEE will evaluate your planned response strategy to WCD scenario to determine if the strategy is sufficient to contain and recover the discharge to the maximum extent practicable

NTL No. 2012-N06

• Maximize recovery efficiency

– Use of remote sensing devices

– Air to vessel communications

– Offloading of recovered oil offshore to maximize skimming efficiency

– Correct equipment for the job listed in WCD scenarios

– Adverse Weather = >3’ seas, use efficient equipment

– Provide Common Operating Picture

Common Operating Picture

Oil Discharge Written Follow-Up Reports NTL 2012-N07-BSEE

Changes from Previous Requirements in NTL 2007-N04

Specific Changes to Reporting Requirements

• Requires:

– Report date and time the initial discharge was reported (not reported to NRC, but reported internally as an incident)

– Include “Discharge rate over time” in oil budget calculations

– List “amount of oil burned”

– “Description of the response organization that was established initially and at the peak of staffing”

Report Submission Updates

• Provides option to submit existing documentation, such as an Incident Action Plan (IAP) as a follow-up report.

• There is a minimum amount of information required: – Cause, location, volume, and remedial action taken

AND if the spill was more than 50 bbls include Sea state, meteorological conditions and the size and appearance of the slick

• Allows submission of reports via eWell

BSEE NTL 2013-N02: Significant Change to OSRP WCD Scenario

BSEE NTL 2013-N02

• Significant Change to OSRP for WCD:

– A 'new' WCD scenario is one that requires more response equipment than the scenario already listed in the approved OSRP

USCG Review of OSRPs

• Submittals that undergo USCG review at D-8, NOLA

– Increase in WCD

– Reduction in response capability

– Initial submittals

Cookie Cutter Plans?

• BSEE encourage specific organization and format

• Contract SMTs and 3rd parties familiar with OSRP

• Similar types of response equipment

• Basic types of response: – Offshore open water areas

– Barrier islands/Sand beaches

– Tidal inlets

– Saltwater marshes

– Vegetated shoreline

Operator Specific

• Spill Management Team

• List of Leases

• List of facilities (Platforms, Pipelines, SS Wells)

• Worst Case discharge scenarios and response

• Spill response equipment

• Well containment equipment

• Incident Command Post

• Media

Proofread the OSRP and Keep it Up-to-Date

Thank you!