Obama Sets Rules for Offshore Oil Wells Five Years After BP
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The Obama administration proposed tighter rules for the offshore drilling equipment designed to be a last line of defense against oil-well blowouts, five years after the fatal BP Plc spill off Louisiana fouled the Gulf of Mexico.
The proposal Monday by the Interior Department builds on standards industry has set for so-called blowout preventers since the April 2010 disaster on the Deepwater Horizon rig, and establishes schedules for maintenance and repair. If adopted, the rules would mandate outside audits of equipment, require each device to have a backup shear to cut a pipe, and call for real-time monitoring onshore for heat and pressure at the well.