§ 556.105 Acronyms and definitions. ( a ) Acronyms and terms used in this part have the following meanings: ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials BAST Best Available and Safest Technology BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management BSEE Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement CFR Code of Federal Regulations CPA Central Planning Area of the GOM CZMA Coastal Zone Management Act DOI Department of the Interior DOCD Development Operations Coordination Document DOO Designation of Operator DPP Development and Production Plan EIA Environmental Impact Analysis EP Exploration Plan EPAct Energy Policy Act of 2005 FNOS Final Notice of Sale FOGRMA Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 G&G Geological and Geophysical GDIS Geophysical Data and Information Statement GOM Gulf of Mexico IOAA Independent Offices Appropriations Act of 1952 LLC Limited Liability Company MBB Mapping and Boundary Branch NAD North American Datum NEPA National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 NGPA Natural Gas Processors Association NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NTL Notice to Lessees OCS Outer Continental Shelf OCSLA Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act OMB Office of Management and Budget ONRR Office of Natural Resources Revenue OPD Official Protraction Diagram PNOS Proposed Notice of Sale PRA Paperwork Reduction Act ROW Right of way RSV Royalty Suspension Volume RUE Right of Use and Easement SLA Submerged Lands Act of 1953 U.S. United States U.S.C. United States Code USCG U.S. Coast Guard USEPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency UTM Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system WPA Western Planning Area of the GOM
( b ) As used in this part, each of the terms and phrases listed below has the meaning given in the Act or as defined in this section.
*Act* means the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, as amended (OCSLA) (43 U.S.C. 1331-1356a).
*Affected State* means, with respect to any program, plan, lease sale, or other activity proposed, conducted, or approved pursuant to the provisions of OCSLA, any State: ( i ) The laws of which are declared, pursuant to section 4(a)(2) of OCSLA (43 U.S.C. 1333(a)(2)), to be the law of the United States for the portion of the OCS on which such activity is, or is proposed to be, conducted;
( ii ) Which is, or is proposed to be, directly connected by transportation facilities to any artificial island or structure referred to in section 4(a)(1) of OCSLA (43 U.S.C. 1333(a)(1));
( iii ) Which is receiving, or in accordance with the proposed activity will receive, oil for processing, refining, or transshipment that was extracted from the OCS and transported directly to that State by means of one or more vessels or by a combination of means, including a vessel;
( iv ) Which is designated by the Secretary as a State in which there is a substantial probability of significant impact on or damage to the coastal, marine, or human environment; or a State in which there will be significant changes in the social, governmental, or economic infrastructure resulting from the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas anywhere on the OCS; or
( v ) In which the Secretary finds that because of such activity, there is, or will be, a significant risk of serious damage, due to factors such as prevailing winds and currents, to the marine or coastal environment in the event of any oil spill, blowout, or release of oil or gas from one or more vessels, pipelines, or other transshipment facilities.
*Aliquot or Aliquot part* means an officially designated subdivision of a lease's area, which can be a half of a lease (1/2), a quarter of a lease (1/4), a quarter of a quarter of a lease (1/4 1/4), or a quarter of a quarter of a quarter of a lease (1/4 1/4 1/4).
*Assign* means to convey an ownership interest in an oil, gas, or sulfur lease, ROW grant or RUE grant. For the purposes of this part, “assign” is synonymous with “transfer” and the two terms are used interchangeably.
*Authorized officer* means any person authorized by law or by delegation of authority to or within BOEM to perform the duties described in this part.
*Average daily production* means the total of all production in an applicable production period that is chargeable under § 556.514 divided by the exact number of calendar days in the applicable production period.
*Barrel* means 42 U.S. gallons. All measurements of crude oil and natural gas liquids under this section must be at 60 °F. ( i ) For purposes of computing production and reporting of natural gas, 5,626 cubic feet of natural gas at 14.73 pounds per square inch equals one barrel.
( ii ) For purposes of computing production and reporting of natural gas liquids, 1.454 barrels of natural gas liquids at 60 °F equals one barrel of crude oil.
*Bidding unit* means one or more OCS blocks, or any portion thereof, that may be bid upon as a single administrative unit and will become a single lease. The term `tract,” as defined in this section, may be used interchangeably with the term “bidding unit.”
*BOEM* means Bureau of Ocean Energy Management of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
*Bonus or royalty credit* means a legal instrument or other written documentation approved by BOEM, or an entry in an account managed by the Secretary, that a bidder or lessee may use in lieu of any other monetary payment for a bonus or a royalty due on oil or gas production from certain leases, as specified in, and permitted by, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006, Pub. L. 109-432 (Div. C, Title 1), 120 Stat. 3000 (2006), codified at 43 U.S.C. 1331, note.
*BSEE* means Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
*Central Planning Area (CPA)* means that portion of the Gulf of Mexico that lies southerly of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. Precise boundary information is available from the BOEM Leasing Division, Mapping and Boundary Branch (MBB).
*Coastal environment* means the physical, atmospheric, and biological components, conditions, and factors that interactively determine the productivity, state, condition, and quality of the terrestrial ecosystem from the shoreline inland to the boundaries of the coastal zone.
*Coastal zone* means the coastal waters (including the lands therein and thereunder) and the adjacent shorelands (including the water therein and thereunder), strongly influenced by each other and in proximity to the shorelines of one or more of the several coastal States, and includes islands, transition and intertidal areas, salt marshes, wetlands, and beaches, whose zone extends seaward to the outer limit of the United States territorial sea and extends inland from the shore lines to the extent necessary to control shorelands, the uses of which have a direct and significant impact on the coastal waters, and the inland boundaries of which may be identified by the several coastal States, under section 305(b)(1) of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) of 1972, 16 U.S.C. 1454(b)(1).
*Coastline* means the line of mean ordinary low water along that portion of the coast in direct contact with the open sea and the line marking the seaward limit of inland waters.
*Crude oil* means a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons, including condensate that exists in natural underground reservoirs and remains liquid at atmospheric pressure after passing through surface separating facilities, but does not include liquid hydrocarbons produced from tar sand, gilsonite, oil shale, or coal.
*Designated operator* means a person authorized to act on your behalf and fulfill your obligations under the Act, the lease, and the regulations, who has been designated as an operator by all record title holders and all operating rights owners that own an operating rights interest in the aliquot/depths in which the designated operator, to which the Designation of Operator form applies, will be operating, and who has been approved by BOEM to act as designated operator.
*Desoto Canyon OPD* means the Official Protraction Diagram (OPD) designated as Desoto Canyon that has a western edge located at the universal transverse mercator (UTM) X coordinate 1,346,400 in the North American Datum of 1927 (NAD27).
*Destin Dome OPD* means the Official Protraction Diagram (OPD) designated as Destin Dome that has a western edge located at the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) X coordinate 1,393,920 in the NAD27.
*Development block* means a block, including a block susceptible to drainage, which is located on the same general geologic structure as an existing lease having a well with indicated hydrocarbons; a reservoir may or may not be interpreted to extend on to the block.
*Director* means the Director of the BOEM of the U.S. Department of the Interior, or an official authorized to act on the Director's behalf.
*Eastern Planning Area* means that portion of the Gulf of Mexico that lies southerly and westerly of Florida. Precise boundary information is available from the BOEM Leasing Division, Mapping and Boundary Branch (MBB).
*Economic interest* means any right to, or any right dependent upon, production of crude oil, natural gas, or natural gas liquids and includes, but is not limited to: a royalty interest; an overriding royalty interest, whether payable in cash or kind; a working interest that does not include a record title interest or an operating rights interest; a carried working interest; a net profits interest; or a production payment.
*Financial assurance* means a surety bond, a pledge of Treasury securities, a decommissioning account, a third-party guarantee, or another form of security acceptable to the BOEM Regional Director, that is used to ensure compliance with obligations under the regulations in this part and under the terms of a lease, a RUE grant, or a pipeline ROW grant.
*Human environment* means the physical, social, and economic components, conditions, and factors that interactively determine the state, condition, and quality of living conditions, employment, and health of those affected, directly or indirectly, by activities occurring on the OCS.
*Initial period or primary term* means the initial period referred to in 43 U.S.C. 1337(b)(2).
*Investment grade credit rating* means an issuer credit rating of BBB- or higher (S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, Inc.), Baa3 or higher (Moody's Investors Service Inc.), or its equivalent, assigned to an issuer of corporate debt by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization as that term is defined in section 3(a)(62) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
*Issuer credit rating* means a credit rating assigned to an issuer of corporate debt by S&P Global Ratings, by Moody's Investors Service Inc., by Fitch Ratings, Inc., or by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization, as that term is defined in section 3(a)(62) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
*Joint bid* means a bid submitted by two or more persons for an oil and gas lease under section 8(a) of the Act.
*Lease* means an agreement that is issued under section 8 or maintained under section 6 of the Act and that authorizes exploration for, and development and production of, minerals on the OCS. The term also means the area covered by that agreement, whichever the context requires.
*Lease interest* means one or more of the following ownership interests in an OCS oil and gas or sulfur lease: a record title interest, an operating rights interest, or an economic interest.
*Lessee* means a person who has entered into a lease with the United States to explore for, develop, and produce the leased minerals and is therefore a record title owner of the lease, or the BOEM-approved assignee-owner of a record title interest. The term lessee also includes the BOEM-approved sublessee- or assignee-owner of an operating rights interest in a lease.
*Marine environment* means the physical, atmospheric, and biological components, conditions, and factors that interactively determine the productivity, state, conditions, and quality of the marine ecosystem, including the waters of the high seas, the contiguous zone, transitional and intertidal areas, salt marshes, and wetlands within the coastal zone and on the OCS.
*Mineral* means oil, gas, and sulfur; it also includes sand, gravel, and salt used to facilitate the development and production of oil, gas, and sulfur.
*Natural gas* means a mixture of hydrocarbons and varying quantities of non-hydrocarbons that exist in the gaseous phase.
*Natural gas liquids* means liquefied petroleum products produced from reservoir gas and liquefied at surface separators, field facilities, or gas processing plants worldwide, including any of the following: ( i ) Condensate—natural gas liquids recovered from gas well gas (associated and non-associated) in separators or field facilities; or
( ii ) Gas plant products—natural gas liquids recovered from natural gas in gas processing plants and from field facilities. Gas plant products include the following, as classified according to the standards of the Natural Gas Processors Association (NGPA) or the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM): ( A ) Ethane—C2H6;
( B ) Propane—C3H8;
( C ) Butane—C4H10, including all products covered by NGPA specifications for commercial butane, including isobutane, normal butane, and other butanes—all butanes not included as isobutane or normal butane;
( D ) Butane-Propane Mixtures—All products covered by NGPA specifications for butane-propane mixtures;
( E ) Natural Gasoline—A mixture of hydrocarbons extracted from natural gas, that meets vapor pressure, end point, and other specifications for natural gasoline set by NGPA;
( F ) Plant Condensate—A natural gas plant product recovered and separated as a liquid at gas inlet separators or scrubbers in processing plants or field facilities; and
( G ) Other Natural Gas plant products meeting refined product standards (*i.e.,* gasoline, kerosene, distillate, etc.).
*Operating rights* means an interest created by sublease out of the record title interest in an oil and gas lease, authorizing the owner to explore for, develop, and/or produce the oil and gas contained within a specified area and depth of the lease (*i.e.,* operating rights tract).
*Operating rights owner* means the holder of operating rights.
*Operating rights tract* means the area within the lease from which the operating rights have been severed on an aliquot basis from the record title interest, defined by a beginning and ending depth.
*Operator* means the person designated as having control or management of operations on the leased area or a portion thereof. An operator may be a lessee, the operating rights owner, or a designated agent of the lessee or the operating rights owner.
*Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)* means all submerged lands lying seaward and outside of the area of lands beneath navigable waters as defined in the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1301-1315) and of which the subsoil and seabed appertain to the United States and are subject to its jurisdiction and control.
*Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)* means the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331-1356a), as amended.
*Owned,* as used in the context of restricted joint bidding or a statement of production, means: ( i ) With respect to crude oil—having either an economic interest in or a power of disposition over the production of crude oil;
( ii ) With respect to natural gas—having either an economic interest in or a power of disposition over the production of natural gas; and
( iii ) With respect to natural gas liquids—having either an economic interest in or a power of disposition over any natural gas liquids at the time of completion of the liquefaction process.
*Pensacola OPD* means the Official Protraction Diagram (OPD) designated as Pensacola that has a western edge located at the UTM X coordinate 1,393,920 in the NAD27.
*Person* means a natural person, where so designated, or an entity, such as a partnership, association, State, political subdivision of a State or territory, or a private, public, or municipal corporation.
*Planning area* means a large portion of the OCS, consisting of contiguous OCS blocks, defined for administrative planning purposes.
*Predecessor* means a prior lessee or owner of operating rights, or a prior holder of a right-of-use and easement grant or a pipeline right-of-way grant. A predecessor is liable for obligations that accrued or began accruing while it held an ownership interest in that lease or grant.
*Primary term or initial period* means the initial period referred to in 43 U.S.C. 1337(b)(2).
*Regional Director* means the BOEM officer with responsibility and authority for a Region within BOEM.
*Regional Supervisor* means the BOEM officer with responsibility and authority for leasing or other designated program functions within a BOEM Region.
*Right-of-Use and Easement (RUE)* means a right to use a portion of the seabed at an OCS site other than on a lease you own, to construct, secure to the seafloor, use, modify, or maintain platforms, seafloor production equipment, artificial islands, facilities, installations, and/or other devices to support the exploration, development, or production of oil, gas, or sulfur resources from an OCS lease or a lease on State submerged lands.
*Right-of-Way (ROW)* means an authorization issued by BSEE under the authority of section 5(e) of the OCSLA (43 U.S.C. 1334(e)) for the use of submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf for pipeline purposes.
*Secretary* means the Secretary of the Interior or an official or a designated employee authorized to act on the Secretary's behalf.
*Single bid* means a bid submitted by one person for an oil and gas lease under section 8(a) of the Act.
*Six-month bidding period* means the 6-month period of time: ( i ) From May 1 through October 31; or
( ii ) from November 1 through April 30.
*Statement of production* means, in the context of joint restricted bidders, the following production during the applicable prior production period: ( i ) The average daily production in barrels of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids which it owned worldwide;
( ii ) The average daily production in barrels of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids owned worldwide by every subsidiary of the reporting person;
( iii ) The average daily production in barrels of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids owned worldwide by any person or persons of which the reporting person is a subsidiary; and
( iv ) The average daily production in barrels of crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids owned worldwide by any subsidiary, other than the reporting person, of any person or persons of which the reporting person is a subsidiary.
*Tract* means one or more OCS blocks, or any leasable portion thereof, that will be part of a single oil and gas lease. The term tract may be used interchangeably with the term “bidding unit.”
*Transfer* means to convey an ownership interest in an oil, gas, or sulfur lease, ROW grant or RUE grant. For the purposes of this part, “transfer” is synonymous with “assign” and the two terms are used interchangeably.
*We, us, and our* mean BOEM or the Department of the Interior, depending on the context in which the word is used.
*Western Planning Area (WPA)* means that portion of the Gulf of Mexico that lies south and east of Texas. Precise boundary information is available from the Leasing Division, Mapping and Boundary Branch.
*You,* depending on the context of this part, means a bidder, a lessee (record title owner), a sublessee (operating rights owner), a Federal or State RUE grant holder, a pipeline ROW grant holder, an assignor or transferor, a designated operator or agent of the lessee or grant holder, or an applicant seeking to become one of the individuals listed in this definition.
[81 FR 18152, Mar. 30, 2016, as amended at 81 FR 70358, Oct. 12, 2016; 89 FR 31580, Apr. 24, 2024]