l 

February 3, 2011 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement 

Director Michael R. Bromwich 

1849 C Street, N. W. Washington, D.C. 20240 

Dear Director Bromwich, 

Apache Deepwater LLC ("Apache") takes this opportunity to urge that the Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, Regulation, and Enforcement act promptly to correct what we and the industry believe to 

be a serious error in the proposed Interim Final Safety Rules. That error is manifest in 30 CFR 

2S0.198(a)(3) where it is stated that for purposes of documents incorporated by reference, all 

references to should means must for purposes of these regulations (emphasis added). At first reading 

and given that the BOEMRE intended the interim final rules to enhance and improve drilling operations 

it seemed reasonable to adopt the change in meaning by regulation. However, after more extended 

review we conclude that this seemingly minor change in meaning will have unintended consequences 

extending to nearly all operations on the OCS. 

The Interim Final Safety Rule's "should" to "must" issue is a critical one that needs to be remedied as the 

rules are finalized. Apache supports the efforts of Louisiana DNR Secretary Scott Angelle and the Back to 

Work Coalition to work with you on swiftly adopting a solution. The Coalition members have identified a 

number of key points which identify the problems posed if "should" to "must" language prevails in the 

final regulations: 

• The change from "should" to "must" for documents incorporated by reference is unnecessarily 

burdensome to operators and results in some cases of increased safety risk and some cases 

where compliance is impossible. 

• The purpose of the Interim Final Rule is to improve drilling safety - and we believe that the 

compromise proposed by the Coalition in the recently submitted white paper does this - it 

sharpens the focus of the rule to drilling safety and the specific areas of concern that were the 

cause for the rule. 

• We are not aware of any added safety benefit to be gained from revising the language from 

"should" to "must" in over 14,000 provisions. We are aware of several instances where safety 

would be compromised or compliance would be impossible. We urge you to consider the 

solution put forth by the Back to Work Coalition so that we can safely return to work in the Gulf 

of Mexico. 

• The drilling safety rule is intended to promote drilling safety enhancements. However, the rule 

as now written actually compromises safety and requires a practice irrespective of sound 

engineering judgment or specific circumstances. 

"'" APACHE CORPORATION 2l1li0 W SAM HOUSTON PKWY S I SUITE 1600 I HOUSTON, TX 771142-3622 TEl (713)954-5500 
• The "should" language in the API standards, recommended practices and specifications is 

intended to allow operators the discretion to adopt the appropriate options that best fit their 

circumstances - so as to not undermine good engineering judgment, require suboptimal 

practices or stifle innovation. 

• The API standards setting process is incredibly thorough and generally involves a wide range of 

expertsin the drafting of anyone standard. The word "should" was not used arbitrarily. The 

term "should" allows operators to avoid unsound practices, as well as apply improved deSigns, 

techniques, processes and materials. 

Apache agrees with the above points and we urge your office to adopt a narrower focus in the final 

regulations. Industry has worked hard to proactively provide a practical solution to these issues and 

recommends deleting 30 CFR 250.198(a)(3) and modifying the rule to require operators to verify and 

document compliance with API RP 65 Part 2 and API RP 53 and showing demonstrative proof as to how 

they are considering and applying those documents to their well plans and operations. We believe this 

to be a viable approach and would hope that the BOEMRE can adopt the recommendation. 

Sincerely, 

Region Vice President 

Apache Deepwater llC