Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area Petroleum Operations Framework Regulations (SOR/2024-25)

Marginal note:Programs

• 158 (1) An operator must develop the following programs to ensure the continued integrity of an installation, including its systems and equipment, from the time the installation is commissioned until it is abandoned or removed from the offshore area:

  • (a) the maintenance program referred to in section 159;

  • (b) the preservation program referred to in section 160; and

  • (c) the weight control program referred to in section 161.

• Marginal note:Program implementation and update

  (2) The operator must ensure that the programs are implemented and periodically updated.

Marginal note:Maintenance program

• 159 (1) The maintenance program must set out the inspection, monitoring, testing and maintenance policies and procedures for the installation, including its systems and equipment, that are necessary to ensure safety, protect the environment and prevent waste.

• Marginal note:Requirements

  (2) The maintenance program must

  • (a) include the measures to ensure that the installation, including its systems and equipment, continues to perform in accordance with its design specifications;

  • (b) include the measures to ensure compliance with any inspection, monitoring, testing or maintenance requirements under this Part;

  • (c) include the performance standards developed by the operator for the installation, including for its systems and equipment;

  • (d) take into account the failure modes and mechanisms of safety-critical elements and the causes of their failure;

  • (e) include inspection and monitoring activities that occur at a frequency and in a manner to prevent, if practicable, the failures referred to in paragraph (d), or to mitigate the effects of those failures, and to ensure that safety-critical elements are repaired, replaced or modified without delay and in accordance with section 162; and

  • (f) include predictive and preventive maintenance activities and schedules for each safety-critical element that

    • (i) are based on the performance standards referred to in paragraph (c),

    • (ii) take into account the manufacturer’s recommendations and industry standards and best practices,

    • (iii) specify a minimum frequency for the comprehensive inspection of each safety-critical element, taking into account its condition and the conditions under which it is used,

    • (iv) for rotating equipment, provide for partial or complete dismantling and inspection at a frequency necessary to maintain the equipment in good condition and to ensure that the equipment’s functionality, availability, reliability and performance are in accordance with its design specifications,

    • (v) provide for a periodic maintenance regime for any low running-hour equipment, such as emergency generators, essential generators and fire pumps, and

    • (vi) provide for the management of spare parts so that critical spare parts are available on the installation to ensure the continued functionality, availability, reliability and performance of each safety-critical element in accordance with its design specifications.

Marginal note:Preservation program

• 160 (1) The preservation program must set out the measures that are necessary to ensure the integrity of equipment that is taken out of service and stored for future use.

• Marginal note:Periodic inspection

  (2) The program must provide for the periodic inspection of the stored equipment to verify its integrity and ensure that it is fit for the purposes for which it is to be used if it is brought into service.

Marginal note:Weight control program

161 The weight control program must set out the measures that are necessary to ensure that the weight and centre of gravity of each installation are kept safely within the installation’s operating limits.

Marginal note:Safety-critical element — repair, replacement or modification

• 162 (1) The holder of a certificate of fitness must ensure that the certifying authority and the Chief Safety Officer are notified before a safety-critical element is repaired, replaced or modified and before any equipment that would change the design, performance or integrity of a safety-critical element is brought on board the installation.

• Marginal note:Approval before repair or modification

  (2) The holder of a certificate of fitness must ensure that the approval of the certifying authority is obtained before a safety-critical element is repaired or modified.

• Marginal note:Verification

  (3) The holder of a certificate of fitness must ensure that a safety-critical element that has been repaired or modified is not put into operation until the certifying authority has verified it and

  • (a) confirmed that it is fit for the purposes for which it is to be used, can be operated safely without posing a threat to persons or the environment and meets the requirements of these Regulations; and

  • (b) imposed any limitation on the operation of the installation that is necessary to ensure that the installation meets the requirements referred to in paragraph 28(1)(b).

• Marginal note:Emergency repair or modification

  (4) In an emergency, subsections (2) and (3) do not apply if the installation manager considers that the delay required to comply with the requirements under those subsections endangers persons on the installation or the environment.

• Marginal note:Verification after emergency

  (5) A safety-critical element that is repaired or modified in an emergency must be verified by the certifying authority in accordance with subsection (3) as soon as the circumstances permit.

• Marginal note:Non-application

  (6) This section does not apply in the case of an adjustment made to or the testing of a boiler or pressure system fitting.

Wells

Marginal note:Drilling fluid systems

163 An operator must ensure that

• (a) the drilling fluid system and associated monitoring equipment provide an effective barrier against formation pressure, ensure safe well operations, prevent pollution and allow for well evaluation;

• (b) the indicators and alarms associated with the monitoring equipment are strategically located on the drilling rig to alert persons on it; and

• (c) dedicated personnel provide continuous monitoring, using independent monitoring systems, of parameters that are critical to safe well operations or to the detection of a gain or loss of drilling fluid while the installation is connected to the well and is taking fluid returns.

Marginal note:Drilling riser

• 164 (1) An operator must ensure that every drilling riser is, throughout the duration of a well operation, capable of

  • (a) providing access to the well;

  • (b) isolating the well-bore from the sea;

  • (c) withstanding the differential pressure of the drilling fluid relative to the sea;

  • (d) withstanding the maximum loads to which it may be subjected; and

  • (e) permitting the drilling fluid to be returned to the installation.

• Marginal note:Drilling riser support

  (2) The operator must ensure that every drilling riser is supported in a manner that effectively compensates for any loads caused by the motion of the installation, the drilling fluid or the water column.

• Marginal note:Drilling riser analysis

  (3) The operator must ensure that a drilling riser analysis and, in the case of a floating platform that uses a dynamic positioning system, a weak-point analysis of the drilling riser are conducted and that the certifying authority in relation to the installation approves those analyses.

Marginal note:Fail-safe subsurface safety valves

• 165 (1) An operator must ensure that a completed development well is equipped with a fail-safe subsurface safety valve that

  • (a) can be operated from the surface; and

  • (b) if the well is located where permafrost is present in unconsolidated sediments, is installed in the production tubing below the base of the permafrost.

• Marginal note:Additional valve

  (2) The operator must ensure that a completed development well on a fixed platform that has gas-lift, injection or production capabilities in the A-annulus is equipped with an additional fail-safe safety valve on the A-annulus.

• Marginal note:Requirements

  (3) The operator must ensure that all fail-safe safety valves are designed, installed, tested, maintained and operated to prevent uncontrolled well flow when they are activated.

Marginal note:Well tubulars, trees and wellheads

• 166 (1) An operator must ensure that well tubulars, trees and wellheads are operated in accordance with good engineering practices.

• Marginal note:Sour environment

  (2) The operator must ensure that any well tubulars, trees or wellheads that may be exposed to a sour environment are capable of operating safely in that environment.

• Marginal note:Safe and efficient operation

  (3) The operator must ensure that the wellhead and tree equipment, including any valves, are designed and maintained to operate safely and efficiently throughout the life cycle of the well under all loads to which the well may be subjected.