GAO raises concerns over safety rules for oil, gas pipelines in Gulf of Mexico

摘要

A congressional watchdog has found that federal safety regulations for active and decommissioned pipelines on the Gulf of Mexico seafloor are insufficient and outdated. The US Government Accountability Office in its March 19 report — publicly released on April 19 — determined that the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has an oversight process that cannot adequately ensure the integrity of about 8,600 miles of active offshore oil and natural gas pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico. The GAO said the bureau’s rules were outdated. They do not cover a proper pipeline inspection process, the intricacies of deepwater pipeline operations or developments in technological standards, the GAO said.