Notices to Lessees and Operators (NTLs) are formal documents that provide clarification, description, or interpretation of a regulation or OCS standard; provide guidelines on the implementation of a special lease stipulation or regional requirement; provide a better understanding of the scope and meaning of a regulation by explaining BSEE interpretation of a requirement; or transmit administrative information such as current telephone listings and a change in BSEE personnel or office address. Letters to Lessees and Operators (LTLs) and Information to Lessees and Operators (ITLs) are also formal documents that provide additional information and clarification, or interpretation of a regulation, OCS standard, or regional requirement, or provide a better understanding of the scope and meaning of a regulation by explaining BSEE interpretation of a requirement.
To view expired or superseded NTLs, select a different NTL status and select submit.
Clarifies policies and procedures for submitting Oil Spill Financial Responsibility documents; adds new definitions to 30 CFR 253.3; provides guidance on how to determine if a facility is covered by the certificate of financial responsibility requirements.
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Financial Responsibility at 30 CFR 253, Oil Spill Prevention Act of 1990
Clarifies the policy on availability and inspection of electronically stored records for tests of installed surface and subsurface safety devices "at the lessee's field office nearest to the OCS facility or other locations convenient to the District Manager" within the meaning of 30 CFR 804(b) and 1630(b). Encourages use of electronic record systems to manage inspections and follow-up activity via request for alternate compliance procedure under 30 CFR 250.141.
Clarifies the policy on availability and inspection of electronically stored records for tests of installed surface and subsurface safety devices "at the lessee's field office nearest to the OCS facility or other locations convenient to the District Manager" within the meaning of 30 CFR 804(b) and 1630(b). Encourages use of electronic record systems to manage inspections and follow-up activity via request for alternate compliance procedure under 30 CFR 250.141.
Guidance on required information to submit with Form MMS-123 and APDs to demonstrate the fitness of moored drilling rigs to conduct operations in the GOM OCS during hurricane season. States MMS will use API Recommended Practice 2SK, Appendix K, 3rd edition.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION NTL No. 2008-G12 Effective Date: June 1, 2008 Expiration Date: December 1, 2009 NOTICE TO LESSEES AND OPERATORS OF FEDERAL OIL AND GAS LEASES IN THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF, GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION Drilling Windows, Eastern
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes NTL No. 2003-G03, effective January 23, 2003, and is being issued to provide for remotely operated vehicle (ROV) surveys in three additional grid areas and to make minor technical amendments. The NTL provides guidance with regard to ROV surveys and reports in deepwater areas (water depths greater than 400 meters) of the Gulf of Mexico.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) provides guidance on the evaluation of tie-downs that you will use on your OCS production platforms to secure drilling and workover rigs and permanent equipment and facilities during the 2008 hurricane season. As required by 30 CFR 250.900(a), you must design, fabricate, install, use, maintain, inspect, and assess all platforms and related structures on the OCS to ensure their structural integrity for the safe conduct of drilling, workover, and production operations, considering the specific environmental conditions at the platform location. Accordingly, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) endorses the guidelines in the American Petroleum Institute’s Bulletin 2TD, Guidelines for Tie-downs on Offshore Production Facilities for Hurricane Season, First Edition (API Bulletin 2TD), to assist you in your review and evaluation of the information and data that demonstrate the ability of the tie-downs to perform during a hurricane. The MMS GOMR highly recommends that you follow the guidelines in API Bulletin 2TD as you prepare for operations during the 2008 hurricane season.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes NTL No. 2007-G16, effective May 14, 2007, on this subject. It provides guidance on using either e-mail or the eWell Permitting and Reporting System to report hurricane and tropical storm effects information, specifies the information included in the various hurricane and tropical storm reports, updates contact information, and makes minor administrative amendments.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes NTL No. 2000-G11, dated May 12, 2000. It clarifies current policy by specifying that some of the pollution inspections for unmanned facilities are to be accomplished by physically boarding the facility.
Describes information requirements for shallow water hazards reports and how these hazards apply to lift and jack-up boats, specifies group intervals for acquiring medium penetration seismic profiler information, and allows MODU or other vessels. to depart a location without fully raising its legs where no contact with pipelines may occur.
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Drilling Operations (Subpart D), Plans and Information, Platforms and Structures
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) clarifies current policy and procedures by specifying your responsibilities as a lessee in implementing MMS 's performance-based training regulation, 30 CFR 250 Subpart 0 Well Control and Production Safety Training. Since going into etiect October 15, 2002, MMS has monitored industry compliance with this rule by conducting numerous audits, interviews, and tests at both the company level and on an individual basis. The majority of agency efforts have focused on the use of audits. If, during an audit, the MMS audit team finds a deficiency in a lessee's training plan, an Incident of Noncompliance (INC) is issued.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) provides clarification on the types of incidents to be reported to the Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR), provides information on using the eWell Permitting and Reporting System to report incidents, oil spills, and pipeline damage information, and specifies the information to be included in the various required oral and written reports
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and 30 CFR 250.175(a) to provide guidance to our existing authority for approving requests for lease or unit Suspensions of Operations (SOO’s) based on rig delays. This NTL also implements a temporary policy for granting SOO’s based on a lack of rig availability and for unanticipated time frames needed to secure long lead equipment such as high pressure/temperature tubulars and wellheads.
The 2008 Minerals Management Service (MMS) Industry A wards Program and Luncheon are scheduled for Thursday, April 10, 2008, at the Hilton Americas Houston Hotel, Houston, Texas. This is the 25'h year that MMS has honored outstanding companies for their exemplary safety and pollution prevention records, and the 1om year for our industry awards program.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. It provides guidance to ensure that certain existing OCS platforms and related structures are assessed to ensure their structural integrity by considering the specific environmental conditions at the platform location as required by 30 CFR 250.900(a).
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. It provides guidance to ensure that the design of new OCS platforms and related structures fully considers the specific environmental conditions at the platform location as required by 30 CFR 250.900(a).
Due to fiscal year-end close, MMS will disable Pay.Gov forms for the last three days of the fiscal year. Pay.Gov forms will he disabled from 12:0 I a.m.,. Friday, September 28, 2007; to I I:59 p.m., Sunday, September 30, 2007. This outage will effect Pay.Gov interactive payments made through eWell.
This National NTL is intended to clarify the information to be included in the written follow-up discharge reports required by 30 CFR 254.46(b)(2). Under this regulation, for all oil discharges of one barrel or more (whether or not the discharge was observed or reported), you must submit a Written follow-up report to the MMS Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Regional Supervisor (RS), Alaska OCS RS, or Pacific OCS Region (POCSR) District Manager (DM), as appropriate, within 15-calendar days after the discharge has been stopped or has ceased.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. It provides guidance for and more detail about the requirements for submitting a change to the designated operator of an OCS lease. As part of this guidance, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) is announcing that it will no longer approve Designations of Operator that involve designating an operator for individual wells or multiple wells.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. It instructs lessees, lease operators, and pipeline right-of-way holders to collect production activities information (facility, equipment, fuel usage, etc.) for use in the 2008 Gulfwide Emissions Inventory. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) derives its authority for requiring emissions monitoring and reporting at 30 CFR 250.303(k), 30 CFR 250.304(a) and (g), and 30 CFR 250.282.
Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) No. 2007-G10 was effective April 3, 2007, and was issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. It made a temporary change to NTL No. 2006-G14, Information Requirements for Exploration Plans and Development Operations Coordination Documents, effective July 12, 2006. NTL No. 2007-G10 is hereby cancelled, effective August 31, 2007.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE GULF OF MEXICO REGION NTL No. 2007-G22 Effective Date: June 25, 2007 NOTICE TO LESSEES AND OPERATORS (NTL) OF FEDERAL OIL AND GAS LEASES ON THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF (OCS), GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION Suspensions of Operations for Subsalt and Ultradee
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and provides guidance on the information you must submit with your Form MMS-123, Application for Permit to Drill (APD), to demonstrate the fitness of any moored drilling rig you will use to conduct operations in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) OCS during the 2007 hurricane season. As required by 30 CFR 250.417(a), this information must demonstrate that the associated moored drilling rig is capable of performing at the proposed drilling location. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) will use the recommendations in the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) newly developed Recommended Practice 95F, 2nd Edition, Interim Guidance for Gulf of Mexico MODU Mooring Practices – 2007 Hurricane Season (API RP 95F, 2nd Edition), to guide our review and evaluation of the information and data that demonstrate the moored rig’s capability to perform at the proposed location. The MMS GOMR highly recommends that you follow the recommendations in API RP 95F, 2nd Edition as you prepare APD’s to conduct drilling operations during the 2007 hurricane season. Failure to follow the recommendations in API RP 95F, 2nd Edition, may delay the approval of an APD or result in disapproval. This guidance also applies to moored drilling rig operations you conduct under Form MMS-124, Application for Permit to Modify (APM).
This Notice to Pipeline Right-of-way (ROW) Holders (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.101(a) and 30 CFR 250.103 and in accordance with 15 CFR 930.53(d) to provide notice and assistance regarding your compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) Federal consistency regulations when submitting OCS ROW pipeline applications to the Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR). This NTL supersedes NTL No. 2002-G15, effective December 20, 2002.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and provides guidance on the evaluation of tie-downs that you will use on your OCS production platforms to secure drilling and workover rigs and permanent equipment and facilities during the 2007 hurricane season. As required by 30 CFR 250.900(a), you must design, fabricate, install, use, maintain, and inspect all platforms and related structures on the OCS to ensure their structural integrity for the safe conduct of drilling, workover, and production operations, considering the specific environmental conditions at the platform location.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 2004-G10, effective June 1, 2004. This NTL updates the information and guidance on obtaining access to the eWell Permitting and Reporting System (eWell) outlined in the attached Application Manual. It also announces the availability of additional electronic reporting features in Ewell.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 2006-G19, effective October 25, 2006, on this subject. It provides clarification on using the eWell Permitting and Reporting System to report hurricane and tropical storm effects information, specifies the information included in the various hurricane and tropical storm reports, updates contact information, and updates a regulatory citation.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators and Pipeline Right-of-way Holders (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 to provide clarification and guidance for pipeline riser design, fabrication, and installation under the platform verification program specified in 30 CFR 250.909 through 918.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 2005-G05, issued April 21, 2005. It extends the expiration date one year to April 30, 2008, changes the Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) contact information, updates regulatory citations, and makes other minor technical amendments.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and provides guidance on the information you must submit with your Form MMS-123, Application for Permit to Drill (APD), to demonstrate the fitness of any jack-up drilling rig you will use to conduct operations in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) OCS during the 2007 hurricane season. As required by 30 CFR 250.417(a), this information must demonstrate that the associated jack-up drilling rig is capable of performing at the proposed drilling location. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) will use the recommendations in the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) newly developed Recommended Practice 95J, Gulf of Mexico Jackup Operations for Hurricane Season – Interim Recommendations, First Edition (API RP 95J), to guide our review and evaluation of the information and data that demonstrate the jack-up rig’s capability to perform at the proposed location.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 2005-G08, effective May 31, 2005. It updates the main telephone numbers and facsimile numbers for the Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) New Orleans, Lafayette, and Lake Jackson District offices and updates a regulatory reference.
This revised Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) provides guidance on cost recovery fees and State Coastal Zone Management review fees, and updates a regulatory citation. It is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 2006-G15, effective July 12, 2006.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. It supersedes NTL No. 96-10, dated December 5, 1996. It provides contact and Paperwork Reduction Act information, updates regulatory citations, adds a definition, and makes minor technical amendments.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. It provides guidance on information to include in your Application for Permit to Drill (APD) (Form MMS-123), Application for Permit to Modify (APM) (Form MMS-124), or Deepwater Operations Plan (DWOP) when you request approval to conduct a high pressure and/or high temperature (HPHT) completion or workover project in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION NTL No. 2007-G08 Effective Date: April 2, 2007 NOTICE TO LESSEES AND OPERATORS OF FEDERAL OIL AND GAS LEASES IN THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF, GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION Using a Motion Compensator when Conducting Coiled Tubing O
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION NTL No. 2007-G06 Effective Date: April 1, 2007 Expiration Date: June 1, 2008 NOTICE TO LESSEES AND OPERATORS OF FEDERAL OIL AND GAS LEASES IN THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF, GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION Drilling Windows, Eastern Gu
The purpose of this NTL is to provide updated information on the OCS Civil Penalties Program. This NTL replaces the assessment matrix provided in NTL No. 2004-N01.
The purpose of this Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is to provide information concerning new filing procedures in obtaining a determination of well producibility (effective with the date of the determination). This necessitates the replacement of NTL No. 2000-G04 Effective Date January 28, 2000. Changes in the lease addendums beginning with lease OCS G-22500 (Lease Sale 178) no longer transfer a lease into minimum royalty status when a well qualifies in accordance with 30 CFR 250.115 or 30 CFR 250.116. These leases remain in rental status and the annual rental payments for future lease years become payable at the end of the lease year, until the start of royalty bearing production. In the lease year that royalty bearing production begins, royalties become payable in accordance with the lease instrument which specifies the royalty rate and minimum royalty requirements.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators and Pipeline Right-of-way Holders (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 98-20, dated September 15, 1998. It provides guidelines for using 3-D data and information instead of high-resolution data in water depths greater than 200 meters (656 feet), using the multichannel medium to acquire 2-D highresolution survey data and processing it, submitting shallow hazards survey reports in digital format, moving vessels near pipelines, and using a state-of-the-art navigation system to depict potential hazards. This NTL also makes some technical amendments and updates cited regulatory authorities.
This NTL is being issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 to provide information on the marine trash and debris awareness training video and slide show, and both postal and e-mail addresses for submitting annual training reports. This NTL supersedes and replaces NTL No. 2003-G11, effective June 19, 2003, on this subject and applies to all existing and future oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico OCS.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) issued Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) No. 2006-G16 (Effective Date: July 15, 2006) which redefines the procedures on how lessees/operators submit well records required by 30 CFR 250.468 and 469, clarifies the specific well records you must submit, the required submittal dates of the various well records, and the correct locations where you must send these well records.
The 2007 Minerals Management Service (MMS) Industry Awards Program and Luncheon arc scheduled for Tuesday, April 17, 2007, at the Hilton Americas Houston Hotel, Houston, Texas. This is the 24th year that MMS has honored outstanding companies for their exemplary safety and poll ution prevention records, and the ninth year for our industry awards program. The following awards will be presented:
This NTL provides guidelines for flaring and venting approvals and updates personnel contacts. It supersedes NTL No. 2003-P04, dated May 18, 2003; NTL No. 2004-G08, dated April 21, 2004; and NTL No. 2005-G04, dated March 1, 2005. Flaring is the burning of gas in the field as it is released into the atmosphere. Venting is the release of gas into the atmosphere without igniting it. Venting includes gas that is released underwater and bubbles to the atmosphere.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators and Pipeline Right-of-way Holders (NTL) supersedes NTL No. 2002-G09, effective October 1, 2002, on this subject. This NTL provides additional guidance on the review and update of Oil Spill Response Plans (OSRP), recognizes the National Incident Management System, adds a new Section 22 to OSRP’s regarding prevention measures for facilities located in State waters, updates regulatory citations, and makes a few minor technical amendments.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 2006-G11, effective June 2, 2006, on this subject. It adds a definition for curtailed production, adds a telefax number for transmitting Form MMS-132 and the facility shut-in report, updates a regulatory reference, and changes a contact.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. It establishes guidelines for new mudline suspension wells drilled and completed as dry tree tiebacks to the surface or converted to subsea wells after October 25, 2006. This NTL only applies to wells drilled from bottom-supported drilling rigs on the Gulf of Mexico shelf.
This NTL is issued to clarify the timing for submitting a request tor a lease or unit suspension. Authority and Background Pursuant to 30 CFR 250.171, "You must submit your request tor a suspension to the Regional Supervisor, and MMS must receive the request before the end of the lease tenn (i.e., end of primary term, end of the 180-day period following the last leaseholding operation, and end of a current suspension)."
