30 C.F.R. §§ 250.801–250.803

SPPE equipment. You must install only safety and pollution prevention equipment (SPPE) considered certified under paragraph (b) of this section or accepted under paragraph (c) of this section. BSEE considers the following equipment to be types of SPPE:

Certification of SPPE. SPPE that is manufactured and marked pursuant to ANSI/API Specification Q1 (incorporated by reference, see § 250.198), is considered as certified SPPE under this part. All other SPPE is considered as not certified, unless approved in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section.

Accepting SPPE manufactured under other quality assurance programs. BSEE may exercise its discretion to accept SPPE manufactured under a quality assurance program other than ANSI/API Specification Q1, provided that the alternative quality assurance program is verified as equivalent to ANSI/API Specification Q1 by an appropriately qualified entity and that the operator submits a request to BSEE containing relevant information about the alternative program and receives BSEE approval. In addition, an operator may request that BSEE accept SPPE that is marked with a third-party certification mark other than the API monogram. All requests under this paragraph should be submitted to the Chief, Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs; Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement; VAE-ORP; 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, VA 20166.

All SSVs, BSDVs, USVs, and GLSDVs and their actuators must meet all of the specifications contained in API Specification 6A and API Standard 6AV1 (both incorporated by reference, see § 250.198).

All SSSVs and their actuators must meet all of the specifications and recommended practices of ANSI/API Specification 14A and ANSI/API Recommended Practice 14B, including all annexes (both incorporated by reference, see § 250.198). Subsurface-controlled SSSVs are not allowed on subsea wells.

Requirements derived from the documents incorporated in this section for SSVs, BSDVs, SSSVs, USVs, GLSDVs, and their actuators, include, but are not limited to, the following:

You must install and use SPPE according to the following table.

You must retain all documentation related to the manufacture, installation, testing, repair, redress, and performance of the SPPE until 1 year after the date of decommissioning of the equipment.

You must follow the failure reporting requirements contained in section 10.20.7.4 of API Specification 6A (incorporated by reference, see § 250.198) for SSVs, BSDVs, GLSDVs and USVs. You must follow the failure reporting requirements contained in section 7.10 of ANSI/API Specification 14A and Annex F of ANSI/API Recommended Practice 14B (both incorporated by reference, see § 250.198) for SSSVs. Within 30 days after the discovery and identification of the failure, you must provide a written notice of equipment failure to the manufacturer of such equipment and to BSEE through the Chief, Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs, unless BSEE has designated a third party as provided in paragraph (d) of this section. A failure is any condition that prevents the equipment from meeting the functional specification or purpose.

You must ensure that an investigation and a failure analysis are performed within 120 days of the failure to determine the cause of the failure. If the investigation and analyses are performed by an entity other than the manufacturer, you must ensure that the analysis report is submitted to the manufacturer and to BSEE through the Chief, Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs, unless BSEE has designated a third party as provided in paragraph (d) of this section. You must also ensure that the results of the investigation and any corrective action are documented in the analysis report.

If the equipment manufacturer notifies you that it has changed the design of the equipment that failed or if you have changed operating or repair procedures as a result of a failure, then you must, within 30 days of such changes, report the design change or modified procedures in writing to BSEE through the Chief, Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs, unless BSEE has designated a third party as provided in paragraph (d) of this section.

BSEE may designate a third party to receive the data required by paragraphs (a) through (c) of this section on behalf of BSEE. If BSEE designates a third party, you must submit the information required in this section to the designated third party, as directed by BSEE.