Regulatory Agencies United States of America

A brief overview of the US regulatory environment is provided here. (This material does not provide legal guidance, it merely provides technical readers with an overview of the regulatory environment.) 

The regulatory picture for offshore operations in the US federal waters is difficult to follow because so many agencies are involved. These include the following in a rough order of Importance  

The number of agencies, and the complexity of their relationships, makes their coordination challenging. (The situation onshore for refineries and chemical plants is much simpler.) For example, when a floating drilling rig is moving to its location, it is a marine vessel tmder the control of a captain who has to comply with Coast Guard standards. However, once the rig is on station it is under the control of an offshore installation manager (OIM) and under the jurisdiction of the BOEMRE. 

When the authority of two or more agencies overlap they generally resolve the lines of responsibility by writing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The negotiations leading to the creation of an MOU can be quite contentious. 

The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) consists of the submerged lands, subsoil, and seabed, lying between the seaward extent of the States jurisdiction (see Section State jurisdiction ) and the seaward extent of Federal jurisdiction. The outward limit of federal jurisdiction is determined by international law. Determination of the distance depends on various factors, but a value of 200 nautical miles (370.4 km) is the base line. 

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