Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Drilling and Production Regulations (SOR/2009-316)

PART 1Board’s Powers

Spacing

2 The Board is authorized to make orders respecting the allocation of areas, including the determination of the size of spacing units and the well production rates for the purpose of drilling for or producing petroleum and to exercise any powers and perform any duties that may be necessary for the management and control of petroleum production.

Names and Designations

3 The Board may give a name, classification or status to any well and may change that name, classification or status.

4 The Board may also

• (a) designate a zone for the purposes of these Regulations;

• (b) give a name to a pool or field; and

• (c) define the boundaries of a pool, zone or field for the purpose of identifying it.

PART 2Management System, Application for Authorization and Well Approvals

Management System

• 5 (1) The applicant for an authorization shall develop an effective management system that integrates operations and technical systems with the management of financial and human resources to ensure compliance with the Act and these Regulations.

• (2) The management system shall include

  • (a) the policies on which the system is based;

  • (b) the processes for setting goals for the improvement of safety, environmental protection and waste prevention;

  • (c) the processes for identifying hazards and for evaluating and managing the associated risks;

  • (d) the processes for ensuring that personnel are trained and competent to perform their duties;

  • (e) the processes for ensuring and maintaining the integrity of all facilities, structures, installations, support craft and equipment necessary to ensure safety, environmental protection and waste prevention;

  • (f) the processes for the internal reporting and analysis of hazards, minor injuries, incidents and near-misses and for taking corrective actions to prevent their recurrence;

  • (g) the documents describing all management system processes and the processes for making personnel aware of their roles and responsibilities with respect to them;

  • (h) the processes for ensuring that all documents associated with the system are current, valid and have been approved by the appropriate level of authority;

  • (i) the processes for conducting periodic reviews or audits of the system and for taking corrective actions if reviews or audits identify areas of non-conformance with the system and opportunities for improvement;

  • (j) the arrangements for coordinating the management and operations of the proposed work or activity among the owner of the installation, the contractors, the operator and others, as applicable; and

  • (k) the name and position of the person accountable for the establishment and maintenance of the system and of the person responsible for implementing it.

• (3) The management system documentation shall be controlled and set out in a logical and systematic fashion to allow for ease of understanding and efficient implementation.

• (4) The management system shall correspond to the size, nature and complexity of the operations and activities, hazards and risks associated with the operations.

Application for Authorization

6 The application for authorization shall be accompanied by

• (a) a description of the scope of the proposed activities;

• (b) an execution plan and schedule for undertaking those activities;

• (c) a safety plan that meets the requirements of section 8;

• (d) an environmental protection plan that meets the requirements of section 9;

• (e) information on any proposed flaring or venting of gas, including the rationale and the estimated rate, quantity and period of the flaring or venting;

• (f) information on any proposed burning of oil, including the rationale and the estimated quantity of oil proposed to be burned;

• (g) in the case of a drilling installation, a description of the drilling and well control equipment;

• (h) in the case of a production installation, a description of the processing facilities and control system;

• (i) in the case of a production project, a field data acquisition program that allows sufficient pool pressure measurements, fluid samples, cased hole logs and formation flow tests for a comprehensive assessment of the performance of development wells, pool depletion schemes and the field;

• (j) contingency plans, including emergency response procedures, to mitigate the effects of any reasonably foreseeable event that might compromise safety or environmental protection, which shall

  • (i) provide for coordination measures with any relevant municipal, provincial, territorial or federal emergency response plan, and

  • (ii) in an area where oil is reasonably expected to be encountered, identify the scope and frequency of the field practice exercise of oil spill countermeasures; and

• (k) a description of the decommissioning and abandonment of the site, including methods for restoration of the site after its abandonment.

• 7 (1) If the application for authorization covers a production installation, the applicant shall also submit to the Board for its approval the flow system, the flow calculation procedure and the flow allocation procedure that will be used to conduct the measurements referred to in Part 7.

• (2) The Board shall approve the flow system, the flow calculation procedure and the flow allocation procedure if the applicant demonstrates that the system and procedures facilitate reasonably accurate measurements and allocate, on a pool or zone basis, the production from and injection into individual wells.

8 The safety plan shall set out the procedures, practices, resources, sequence of key safety-related activities and monitoring measures necessary to ensure the safety of the proposed work or activity and shall include

• (a) a summary of and references to the management system that demonstrate how it will be applied to the proposed work or activity and how the duties set out in these Regulations with regard to safety will be fulfilled;

• (b) a summary of the studies undertaken to identify hazards and to evaluate safety risks related to the proposed work or activity;

• (c) a description of the hazards that were identified and the results of the risk evaluation;

• (d) a summary of the measures to avoid, prevent, reduce and manage safety risks;

• (e) a list of all structures, facilities, equipment and systems critical to safety and a summary of the system in place for their inspection, testing and maintenance;

• (f) a description of the organizational structure for the proposed work or activity and the command structure on the installation, which clearly explains

  • (i) their relationship to each other, and

  • (ii) the contact information and position of the person accountable for the safety plan and of the person responsible for implementing it;

• (g) if the possibility of pack sea ice or drifting icebergs exists at the drill or production site, the measures to address the protection of the installation, including systems for ice detection, surveillance, data collection, reporting, forecasting and, if appropriate, ice avoidance or deflection; and

• (h) a description of the arrangements for monitoring compliance with the plan and for measuring performance in relation to its objectives.

9 The environmental protection plan shall set out the procedures, practices, resources and monitoring necessary to manage hazards to and protect the environment from the proposed work or activity and shall include

• (a) a summary of and references to the management system that demonstrate how it will be applied to the proposed work or activity and how the duties set out in these Regulations with regard to environmental protection will be fulfilled;

• (b) a summary of the studies undertaken to identify environmental hazards and to evaluate environmental risks relating to the proposed work or activity;

• (c) a description of the hazards that were identified and the results of the risk evaluation;

• (d) a summary of the measures to avoid, prevent, reduce and manage environmental risks;

• (e) a list of all structures, facilities, equipment and systems critical to environmental protection and a summary of the system in place for their inspection, testing and maintenance;

• (f) a description of the organizational structure for the proposed work or activity and the command structure on the installation, which clearly explains

  • (i) their relationship to each other, and

  • (ii) the contact information and position of the person accountable for the environmental protection plan and the person responsible for implementing it;

• (g) the procedures for the selection, evaluation and use of chemical substances including process chemicals and drilling fluid ingredients;

• (h) a description of equipment and procedures for the treatment, handling and disposal of waste material;

• (i) a description of all discharge streams and limits for any discharge into the natural environment including any waste material;

• (j) a description of the system for monitoring compliance with the discharge limits identified in paragraph (i), including the sampling and analytical program to determine if those discharges are within the specified limits; and

• (k) a description of the arrangements for monitoring compliance with the plan and for measuring performance in relation to its objectives.

Well Approval

• 10 (1) Subject to subsection (2), an operator who intends to drill, re-enter, work over, complete or recomplete a well or suspend or abandon a well or part of a well shall obtain a well approval.

• (2) A well approval is not necessary to conduct a wire line, slick line or coiled tubing operation through a Christmas tree located above sea level if

  • (a) the work does not alter the completion interval or is not expected to adversely affect recovery; and

  • (b) the equipment, operating procedures and qualified persons exist to conduct the wire line, slick line or coiled tubing operations as set out in the authorization.

11 If the well approval sought is to drill a well, the application shall contain

• (a) a comprehensive description of the drilling program; and

• (b) a well data acquisition program that allows for the collection of sufficient cutting and fluid samples, logs, conventional cores, sidewall cores, pressure measurements and formation flow tests, analyses and surveys to enable a comprehensive geological and reservoir evaluation to be made.

12 The application shall contain

• (a) if the well approval sought is to re-enter, work over, complete or recomplete a well or suspend or abandon a well or part of it, a detailed description of that well, the proposed work or activity and the rationale for conducting it;

• (b) if the well approval sought is to complete a well, in addition to the information required under paragraph (a), information that demonstrates that section 46 will be complied with; and

• (c) if the well approval sought is to suspend a well or part of it, in addition to the information required under paragraph (a), an indication of the period within which the suspended well or part of it will be abandoned or completed.

13 The Board shall grant the well approval if the operator demonstrates that the work or activity will be conducted safely, without waste and without pollution, in compliance with these Regulations.

Suspension and Revocation of a Well Approval

• 14 (1) The Board may suspend the well approval if

  • (a) the operator fails to comply with the approval and the work or activity cannot be conducted safely, without waste or without pollution;

  • (b) the safety of the work or activity becomes uncertain because

    • (i) the level of performance of the installation or service equipment, any ancillary equipment or any support craft is demonstrably less than the level of performance indicated in the application, or

    • (ii) the physical environmental conditions encountered in the area of the activity for which the well approval was granted are more severe than the equipment’s operating limits as specified by the manufacturer; or

  • (c) the operator fails to comply with the approvals issued under subsection 7(2), 52(4) or 66(2).

• (2) The Board may revoke the well approval if the operator fails to remedy the situation causing the suspension within 120 days after the date of that suspension.

Development Plans

15 For the purpose of subsection 139(1) of the Act, the well approval relating to a production project is prescribed.

16 For the purpose of paragraph 139(3)(b) of the Act, Part II of the development plan relating to a proposed development of a pool or field shall contain a resource management plan.

PART 3Operator’s Duties

Availability of Documents

• 17 (1) The operator shall keep a copy of the authorization, the well approval and all other approvals and plans required under these Regulations, the Act and the regulations made under the Act at each installation and shall make them available for examination at the request of any person at each installation.

• (2) The operator shall ensure that a copy of all operating manuals and other procedures and documents necessary to execute the work or activity and to operate the installation safely without pollution are readily accessible at each installation.