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To view expired or superseded NTLs, select a different NTL status and select submit.
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION NOTICE TO LESSEES AND OPERATORS OF FEDERAL OIL AND GAS LEASES IN THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF, GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION Clarification of Eastern Gulf of Mexico Sale 181 Military Areas Stipulation The U.S. Department of the In
Under Section (b)(7) of 43 U.S.C 1337 (Section 8(b)(7) of the OCS Lands Act, as amended), each offshore lease issued after September 18, 1978, has a 20 percent small refiner offer provision. Under this provision, lessees must offer small or independent refiners 20 percent of the crude oil, condensate, and natural gas liquids produced on each lease, at the market value and point of delivery applicable to Federal royalty oil. This 20 percent set aside is in addition to the amounts available under the Federal royalty oil program.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) issued NTL No. 2003-G08, effective June 5, 2003, pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103, to explain how you implement seismic survey mitigation measures, including special ramp-up procedures and protected species observation and reporting. That NTL applied to all seismic operations throughout the Gulf of Mexico OCS in waters greater than 200 m (656 ft) in depth. The measures contained therein apply to all on-lease seismic surveys you conduct under 30 CFR 250.201 and all off-lease seismic surveys you conduct under 30 CFR 251.
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
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
Guidance on provision of synthetic mooring systems in DWOPs, considered a non-conventional technology regardless of water depth. The design should conform to API Recommended Practice 2SM and operators must comply with 30 CFR 250.292(c) for design, fabrication, and installation information on the mooring system.
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Oil and Gas Drilling Operations, Plans and Information
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes BOEM NTL No. 2012-GOl on this subject. It provides a new schedule for the drilling window program, and a website address for a map that shows the areas covered by the drilling window program.
Describes process for regulated entities to use electronic methods for responding to INCs, request Describes new schedule and drilling window program for eastern Gulf of Mexico, with website address for maps showing lease sales in affected areas of the drilling windows program approved after consultation with the U.S. Air Force.
This addendum to Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) No. 98-18, Change of Address for the Submittal of Certain Drilling Well Records in Accordance with 30 CFR 250.416, dated September 1, 1998, is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and notifies you of a change in the name and address of the agent receiving certain well records on behalf of the Minerals Management Service (MMS).
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) amends Section 10 and Appendix H of the Attachment to NTL No. 98-30, titled “Guidelines for Preparing Regional Oil Spill Response Plans.” It makes minor technical amendments, establishes the Flower Garden Banks Oil Spill Planning Area and provides for obtaining real-time onsite meteorological information in the event of a spill there, and establishes two new types of worst case discharge scenarios.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes NTL 99-G02 and updates the economic assumptions published in it. These new economic assumptions update Section b of the Economic Viability and Relief Justification Report. We require the applicant (you) to use these assumptions when applying for deepwater royalty relief. Together with these new assumptions, you must use a new version of the economic model, as specified in the table below, for applications submitted after the effective date of this NTL (until future updates, see below).
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes the Letter to Lessees and Operators dated April 15, 1993, on this subject. It includes a statement on the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. As published in the Federal Register on May 1, 1991 (56 FR 20020), the Minerals Management Service (MMS) has prescribed an implementation plan for the conversion of the North American Datum (NAD) 27 to NAD 83. This NTL summarizes the phases for this conversion in the Gulf of Mexico.
The purpose of this NTL is to convey to you the changing policies and procedures of the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) regarding downhole commingling of production from separate reservoirs in a wellbore as addressed in 30 CFR 250.1106 (formerly 30 CFR 250.176). These evolving policies are a direct result of the changing economic, technological, and operating environments present in today's offshore development and production activities
The Minerals Management Service (MMS), along with six oil and gas companies, is planning a controlled deepwater release of oil and gas in the deep waters of the Norwegian Sea. The objectives of this study (called Deepspill) are to gather field data to calibrate computer models that predict oil and gas behavior and transport when oil and gas are released at the seafloor through the water column; to test the scalability of laboratory experiments; and to field test the suitability of various underwater surveillance systems for monitoring and tracking underwater releases.
The purpose of this Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is to provide information concerning new and simplified filing procedures in obtaining a determination of well producibility, and subsequent placement of the lease into a minimum-royalty status (effective with the date of the determination).
This NTL clarifies how the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) will implement the requirements for general lease surety bonds contained in 30 CFR 256, Subpart I. These securities are necessary to ensure that you fully comply with regulatory and lease requirements to include rents, royalties, environmental damage and clean-up activities not related to oil spills, abandonment and site-clearance, and other lease obligations.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes NTL 99-G21, “Platform Removal Applications,” dated September 13, 1999; and NTL 99-G08, “Removing Underwater Casing Stubs,” dated May 10, 1999. It changes current policy regarding the explosive removal of well casings and casing stubs, provides information on Federal requirements for protecting endangered and threatened species and marine mammals, adds and modifies information to be included in structure removal method applications, and makes minor technical amendments.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes NTL 98-05, dated July 1, 1998, on this subject. It reminds operators of the new notification and confirmation requirement for “eligible” leases, which was established in the final rulemaking revising the 30 CFR part 260 regulations (66 FR11512, published February 23, 2001). It also makes other minor changes and updates regulatory citations. We previously issued NTL 98-05 in response to questions concerning deepwater royalty relief for eligible leases.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 97-07, dated March 1, 1997, on this subject. It makes minor technical corrections; updates regulatory citations; adds standard conditions for well workovers, completions, and recompletions; and provides for the use of a new form for reporting rig movements.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and supersedes NTL No. 2000-G15, effective September 6, 2000, on this subject. It provides a backup method for you to provide hurricane evacuation and production curtailment statistics if the primary method is not functioning.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued to address certain safety concerns and questions recently brought to our attention with respect to cranes installed on fixed offshore platforms. Regulations at 30 CFR 250.108 address cranes and other material handling equipment on fixed offshore platforms. Section 250.108(a)(l) incorporates by reference the American Petroleum Institute's Recommended Practice for Operation and Maintenance of Offshore Cranes (API RP 2D), Fourth Edition, into the Minerals Mangement Service (MMS) regulations. Section 250.1 08(a)(2) requires that inspection, testing, and maintenance records must be kept at the OCS facility for at least 2 years.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) informs lessees and operators that the Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR), Office for Production and Development will now be performing economic and conservation evaluations of requests to abandon producing zones and to bypass a zone upon the initial completion or recompletion. These evaluations will ensure that economic zones are not prematurely abandoned and confirm that no significant hydrocarbon bearing zones are being bypassed to the detriment of ultimate recovery. This NTL also specifies the average production rates above which additional information must be submitted before you abandon a zone pursuant to 30 CFR 250.1712(a), or recomplete to a new zone pursuant 30 CFR 250.613(c).
This Notice to Lessees (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR Part 251 and 30 CFR 250.103 to provide detailed procedures for the submission, inspection and selection of geophysical data and information collected under a permit in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) OC objective of these procedures is to ensure MMS has timely access to certain geophysical data and information for use in determinin adequacy of bids received at GOM OCS lease sales.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is being issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 to update the marine trash and debris awareness training, recordkeeping and certification requirements. This NTL supersedes and replaces NTL No. 2003-G06, effective February 15, 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) in June 1998 implemented the gas production verification program. The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) will continue to focus only on verifying production for the sales (royalty) meters. Under the requirements of 30 CFR 250.1203(b)(6) and (b)(8), you must provide MMS (when requested) with copies of the monthly gas volume statements for those meters used to determine gas sold and/or transferred. Unlike the previous sampling process, the Regional Supervisor is now requesting monthly gas volume statements from all operators starting January 2004 to be submitted on a monthly basis. You must submit these statements by the last day of the month following production to Mr. Paul Marsh at 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70123. Please also provide the name and telephone number of your contact person. Failure to submit your gas volume statements in the time frame requested will result in the issuance of an Incident of Non-Compliance.
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is issuing this NTL to update the criteria MMS uses to determine when a supplemental bond is required to cover potential lease abandonment liability. The NTL has been revised to: 1) increase the allowable cumulative lease abandonment liability amount of a lessee as a percentage of its net worth provided other financial criteria are met; 2) remove the current ratio from the criteria used to determine the financial strength of a lessee; 3) allow a lessee to request the MMS to consider a percentage of a lessee’s proved producing reserves in the calculation of its net worth; 4) reduce the initial payment amount a lessee is required to contribute to a lease-specific abandonment escrow account; and 5) extend the time for a lessee to meet supplemental bond requirements after notice from the MMS.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 and provides links to the addresses and telephone numbers of the individual command headquarters for the military warning and water test areas in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).
Beginning in 2001, shallow-water (less than 200 meters) leases in the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico were issued with royalty suspension provisions for deep gas production. For a lease to earn a royalty suspension volume of 20 BCF of deep gas production, a well must be drilled to and completed in a new deep gas reservoir with production commencing within the first 5 years of the life of the lease. Deep gas is defined as any gas production from a completion with the top of the perforated interval 15,000 feet or greater TVD subsea.
For shallow-water leases issued from 2001 through 2003, the royalty suspension provisions in the lease instrument define deep gas as any gas production from a completion in a new gas reservoir (one not previously produced on any current lease) with the top of the perforated interval 15,000 feet or greater subsea. The reference to “completion” in this definition includes completions in both new and sidetrack wells. Accordingly, the lease instrument grants a 20 BCF royalty suspension volume (RSV) not only to new wells, but also to sidetrack wells.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators is a reminder that, pursuant to 30 CFR 203.48, lessees of shallow-water leases issued with deep gas royalty relief provisions may exercise an option to replace these provisions with the deep gas royalty relief provisions in 30 CFR 203.0 and 30 CFR 203.40 through 203.47. Pursuant to 30 CFR 203.48(b), a written notification of your decision must be sent to the Regional Supervisor for Production and Development before September 1, 2004, or 180 days after your lease is issued, whichever is later.
Authority The Gulf of Mexico OCS Region (GOMR) hereby directs lessees and operators of each affected OCS lease in the Gulf of Mexico to collect and report facility, equipment, fuel usage, and other activity information during the period January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2005. The authorities for these requirements include, but are not limited to, 30 CFR 250.303(k), 30 CFR 250.304(g), 30 CFR 250.203(o), and 30 CFR 250.204(s). Purpose and Need for NTL The MMS and Gulf Coast States need information for the year 2005 on OCS production activities in the Western Gulf of Mexico (that portion of the OCS west of 87o 30' West longitude), which will coincide with the 2005 State emission inventories, for input into ozone and regional haze models.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to regulations at 30 CFR 250. 194; 30 CFR 250.201; 30 CFR 250.203;30 CFR 250.204: 30 CFR 250.1007(a)(5) and 30 CFR 250. 1010(c) and supersedes NTL OO-A03, dated February 7, 2000.
This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103 to provide clarification and guidance for monitoring of bypassed production and pipeline safety devices.
Minerals Management Service (MMS) is offering a royalty relief program for hurricane projects in the Gulf of Mexico OCS pursuant to 30 CFR 203.1. To expedite the application review process, MMS will assume the pre-qualification requirements stated at 30 CFR 203.80 are met by applicants making requests under this initiative. Applications will be considered if the approval of royalty relief would meet the objective of the endof-life program (see 30 CFR 203.51, 203.83 and 203.84). End-of-life program guidelines for processing applications have been modified to accommodate characteristics unique to hurricane projects. This NTL provides guidance for preparing a complete application. "Hurricane project" is defined as a proposal to correct damage caused by Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita. A project may consist of wells, platforms, pipelines, or other structures which were producing or capable of producing before the hurricane from one or more oil and gas reservoirs, located on one or more leases. The incentive is intended to encourage the production of marginal oil and gas reserves that are shut in due to hurricane damage, and for which resumption of production would not be economical in the absence of royalty relief.
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 Notice to Lessees and Operators and Pipeline Right-of-way Grant Holders (NTL) is issued pursuant to 30 CFR 250.103. This NTL is also issued pursuant to 30 CFR 251.3, to permitees that conduct geological and geophysical explorations on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and pursuant to 30 CFR 280.3(c) to permitees that conduct operations other than oil, gas, and sulphur on the OCS.
The Chief, Office ofFacilities, Safety and Enforcement (OFSE) requires all Pacific OCS Region (POCSR) lessees or right-of-way applicants (you) to perform an analysis of seafloor and subsurface geologic and manmade hazards of all areas considered for production platforms and pipelines (30 CFR 250.242(b), 250.906 and 250.1007 (a)(5)). Hazards analysis is the process ofidentifying and evaluating conditions that might affect the safety ofproposed operations or conditions that might be affected by the proposed operations.
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)."
Archaeological resources are any material remains of human life or activities that are at least 50 years of age and that are of archaeological interest. Material remains include physical evidence of human habitation, occupation, use or activity including the site, location, or context in which such evidence is situated. Items of archaeological interest are those that may provide scientific or humanistic understanding of past human behavior, cultural adaptation, and related topics through the application of scientific or scholarly techniques.
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
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 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. 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 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.
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. 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.
