Garden Banks 388 Deepwater Decommissioning: Regulatory Considerations, Issues and Challenges
Authors: Shaw Mickey 
Published: October 2008

This paper will review the considerations, issues and challenges associated with the regulatory approval process for the EEX Corporation Garden Banks 388 Deep-Water field decommissioning. This information will be useful as a valuable guideline for the required submittals for future deepwater field abandonments and will detail the process EEX experienced in obtaining theirs. It will discuss the impact on schedule and timing with respect to the mobilization of decommissioning equipment. Also discussed are the data requirements for submittal, which vary somewhat from that of a shallow water or shelf location. Three processes were involved in receiving regulatory approval for the subject work. First was the approval obtained from the Conservation of Resources department within the MMS. Second was Field Abandonment/Decommissioning approval from the MMS. Lastly were the 'routine' submittals for individual aspects of the project. The regulatory process was found to take substantially longer than anticipated due to the complex, multi-layered and inter-departmental communications necessary to satisfy the various obligations of the regulatory agencies (MMS, USCG, et al). The approval process was further compounded by the fact that this decommissioning project was "breaking new ground" in water depths exceeding 2100 feet. This project was the first Deep-Water abandonment under the current MMS regulations. It was viewed by all participants as a precedent setting application within and outside the MMS. The MMS has begun reevaluating the regulations as they may apply to the water decommissioning/abandonment of deep-fields pursuant to this work. A new NTL from the MMS is forthcoming.

Discussion

Since the oil industry moved into the Gulf of Mexico, each time the industry ventured into new water depths or developed new technologies, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) has had begin the long hike up the learning curve on what and how to regulate and permit.

The Gulf of Mexico sprang to life like a Phoenix from the ashes when oil industry activity moved into the deepwater arena. Exploration and Development projects began dotting the seascape in greater and greater numbers.

For the oil industry, the deepwater activity meant going into uncharted waters. New equipment, designs, techniques and of course new problems faced each of the exploration and development projects. The MMS approached the regulation of deepwater activity as it had the outer continental shelf activity of several decades in the past. The MMS auctioned off the leases that had been marked off on map grids, just as the shallow water leases were leased to the industry. Lease bonus computations were the first to see change, followed by the life of the lease. The MMS as well as the oil industry recognized that deepwater exploration and development would take longer than the mature shallow water projects. The life of the lease agreements was lengthened and penalties were sometimes waived to act as an incentive to the industry to keep moving ahead with the work. It was also an accepted fact that deepwater exploration and development was much more capital intensive and was loaded with more risk to the lease operators.