US loosens deepwater rules, Alaska courts foreign investment

摘要

The Trump Administration is looking at removing rules put in place after the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 that were aimed at improving the safety of offshore drilling wells in the US. Specifically, the Trump Administration has asked the US Interior Department's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) to reconsider the "well control rule" which was passed last year. The rule had required offshore operators to pressure-test blowout preventers every 14 days. The revision would extend that testing period to every 21 days "in some situations." The revision would also simplify testing procedures for devices called shear rams, revising requirements for unmanned robots that service subsea equipment, and changing a requirement to submit testing results to BSEE within 72 hours.