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<div class="ocr">Red Cavaney
Senior Vice President, Government Affairs
ConocoPhillips Company

1776 Eye Street, NW Suite 700
Washington, D.C. 20006

Le @ @
ConocoPhillips
February 14, 2011

Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement
Director Michael R. Bromwich

1849 C Street, N. W.

Washington, D.C. 20240

RE: Interim Final Safety Rule

Dear Director Bromwich,

ConocoPhillips Company supports Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Secretary Scott
Angelle and the Back to Work Coalition in their efforts to resolve the ongoing concerns around
30 C.F.R. § 250.198 (a) (3) in the Interim Final Safety Rule (Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 199,
63610 / Friday, October 15, 2010). As you are aware, this new section in the C.F.R. converts
every instance of the word ‘should’ in a referenced document in 30 C.F.R. § 250 to ‘must’, thus
rendering those recommendations mandatory in a large body of industry standards and
guidance. This change creates a regulation with multiple ambiguous and unenforceable
requirements.

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 — without undermining good engineering judgment, requiring suboptimal
practices or stifling innovation.

ConocoPhillips concurs with Secretary Angelle and the Back to Work Coalition that the new
section 30 CFR250.198(a)(3) should be deleted from the Interim Final Safety Rule to avoid the
need for Operators to seek departure requests when the use of “must” undermines sound
engineering practice or is physically impossible to meet. Alternatively, requiring operator
compliance with AP] Recommended Practice 65 — Part 2 and API Recommended Practice 53
will provide the improved drilling safety practices intended by the enhanced BOEM regulations.

ConocoPhillips involvement in the multiple industry task forces and our initial sponsorship and
current membership in the Marine Well Containment Company reflects our commitment to
improve the drilling standards, oil spill preparedness, and spill and containment response
capability of our industry. We believe the changes to the Interim Final Safety Rule
recommended above are also necessary in our collective efforts to safely resume drilling in the
Gulf of Mexico without undue delays in permitting.

Regards,
</div>

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