--- kind: "range" citation: "30 C.F.R. §§ 250.904–250.908" title: "30" from: "250.904" to: "250.908" count: 5 url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/30/250.904..250.908" --- # §250.904. What is the Platform Approval Program? - (a) **The Platform Approval Program is the BSEE basic approval process for platforms on the OCS.** The requirements of the Platform Approval Program are described in [§§ 250.904 through 250.908](/cfr/30/250.904..250.908.md) of this subpart. Completing these requirements will satisfy BSEE criteria for approval of fixed platforms of a proven design that will be placed in the shallow water areas (≤400 ft.) of the Gulf of America OCS. - (b) The requirements of the Platform Approval Program must be met by all platforms on the OCS. Additionally, if you want approval for a floating platform; a platform of unique design; or a platform being installed in deepwater (> 400 ft.) or a frontier area, you must also meet the requirements of the Platform Verification Program. The requirements of the Platform Verification Program are described in [§§ 250.909 through 250.918](/cfr/30/250.909..250.918.md) of this subpart. # §250.905. How do I get approval for the installation, modification, or repair of my platform? The Platform Approval Program requires that you submit the information, documents, and fee listed in the following table for your proposed project. In lieu of submitting the paper copies specified in the table, you may submit your application electronically in accordance with [30 CFR 250.186(a)(3)](/cfr/30/250.186.md?p=a-3). # §250.906. What must I do to obtain approval for the proposed site of my platform? - (a) **Shallow hazards surveys.** You must perform a high-resolution or acoustic-profiling survey to obtain information on the conditions existing at and near the surface of the seafloor. You must collect information through this survey sufficient to determine the presence of the following features and their likely effects on your proposed platform: - (1) Shallow faults; - (2) Gas seeps or shallow gas; - (3) Slump blocks or slump sediments; - (4) Shallow water flows; - (5) Hydrates; or - (6) **Ice scour of seafloor sediments.** - (b) **Geologic surveys.** You must perform a geological survey relevant to the design and siting of your platform. Your geological survey must assess: - (1) Seismic activity at your proposed site; - (2) Fault zones, the extent and geometry of faulting, and attenuation effects of geologic conditions near your site; and - (3) **For platforms located in producing areas, the possibility and effects of seafloor subsidence.** - (c) **Subsurface surveys.** Depending upon the design and location of your proposed platform and the results of the shallow hazard and geologic surveys, the Regional Supervisor may require you to perform a subsurface survey. This survey will include a testing program for investigating the stratigraphic and engineering properties of the soil that may affect the foundations or anchoring systems for your facility. The testing program must include adequate in situ testing, boring, and sampling to examine all important soil and rock strata to determine its strength classification, deformation properties, and dynamic characteristics. If required to perform a subsurface survey, you must prepare and submit to the Regional Supervisor a summary report to briefly describe the results of your soil testing program, the various field and laboratory test methods employed, and the applicability of these methods as they pertain to the quality of the samples, the type of soil, and the anticipated design application. You must explain how the engineering properties of each soil stratum affect the design of your platform. In your explanation you must describe the uncertainties inherent in your overall testing program, and the reliability and applicability of each test method. - (d) **Overall site investigation report.** You must prepare and submit to the Regional Supervisor an overall site investigation report for your platform that integrates the findings of your shallow hazards surveys and geologic surveys, and, if required, your subsurface surveys. Your overall site investigation report must include analyses of the potential for: - (1) Scouring of the seafloor; - (2) Hydraulic instability; - (3) The occurrence of sand waves; - (4) Instability of slopes at the platform location; - (5) Liquefaction, or possible reduction of soil strength due to increased pore pressures; - (6) Degradation of subsea permafrost layers; - (7) Cyclic loading; - (8) Lateral loading; - (9) Dynamic loading; - (10) Settlements and displacements; - (11) Plastic deformation and formation collapse mechanisms; and - (12) **Soil reactions on the platform foundations or anchoring systems.** # §250.907. Where must I locate foundation boreholes? - (a) For fixed or bottom-founded platforms and tension leg platforms, your maximum distance from any foundation pile to a soil boring must not exceed 500 feet. - (b) For deepwater floating platforms which utilize catenary or taut-leg moorings, you must take borings at the most heavily loaded anchor location, at the anchor points approximately 120 and 240 degrees around the anchor pattern from that boring, and, as necessary, other points throughout the anchor pattern to establish the soil profile suitable for foundation design purposes. # §250.908. What are the minimum structural fatigue design requirements? - (a) API Recommended Practice 2A-WSD (incorporated by reference, see [§ 250.198](/cfr/30/250.198.md)), requires that the design fatigue life of each joint and member be twice the intended service life of the structure.When designing your platform, the following table provides minimum fatigue life safety factors for critical structural members and joints. - (b) The documents incorporated by reference in [§ 250.901](/cfr/30/250.901.md) may require larger safety factors than indicated in [paragraph (a)](#a) of this section for some key components. When the documents incorporated by reference require a larger safety factor than the chart in [paragraph (a)](#a) of this section, the requirements of the incorporated document will prevail.