UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE
GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION

NTL No. 98-19
Effective Date: September 15, 1998

NOTICE TO LESSEES AND OPERATORS OF FEDERAL OIL AND GAS LEASES
IN THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF, GULF OF MEXICO OCS REGION

Temporary Abandonment of Wells and Maintenance,
Protection, and Removal of Underwater Casing Stubs

This Notice to Lessees and Operators (NTL) supersedes NTL 90-09, dated November 8, 1990. It makes minor technical amendments, updates cited regulatory authorities, and includes a statement regarding the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

According to 30 CFR 250.703, you may temporarily abandon a well when it is necessary for the proper development and production of a lease. You must protect wells temporarily abandoned in water depths to 300 feet by a caisson, a jacket, or a subsea dome at the time of abandonment, with the exception of those mud line suspensions that present no obstruction at the mud line. Casing stubs or mud line suspensions requiring protection by a dome must extend no higher than 10 feet above the mud line. You must properly maintain such domes onsite so as not to present an obstruction to trawling operations. You must also mark wells protected by a dome in less than 100 feet of water depth with a buoy installed according to United States Coast Guard (USCG) Regulations. Use Form MMS-124, Sundry Notice and Reports on Well, to request approval to install a protective dome or use mud line suspension equipment. The appropriate District Supervisor must approve your request.

Caissons or jackets installed over underwater casing stubs or suspension equipment must be designed according to 30 CFR 250.906, and the Regional Supervisor, Field Operations, must approve the design. All caissons or jackets installed must be equipped with the proper aids to navigation according to USCG Regulations.

For any well temporarily abandoned at or immediately above the mud line, you must, within 1 year of the original date of temporary abandonment and at successive 1-year intervals thereafter, provide an annual report to the Regional Supervisor, Field Operations, describing plans for reentry to complete or permanently abandon the well. You must substantiate that continued maintenance of a well in the temporarily abandoned status is necessary in the interest of proper development and exploration of the lease. If this cannot be substantiated, you must promptly and permanently abandon the well, remove the casing stub (or suspension equipment) and any existing protective dome, and perform site clearance according to 30 CFR 250.702, 30 CFR 250.704, and NTL No. 92-02.

You must inspect annually any well protected by a subsea dome to confirm that the dome remains in place over the well. Include the inspection results, the inspection method used, and date of the inspection in your annual report to the Regional Supervisor, Field Operations.

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Statement

The collections of information referred to in this NTL provide clarification, description or interpretation of requirements contained in 30 CFR part 250, subparts D, G and I. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the information collection requirements in these Regulations and associated MMS Forms. The OMB control numbers are: 1010-0053 for subpart D; 1010-0079 for subpart G; 1010-0058 for subpart I; and 1010-0045 for MMS Form 124, Sundry Notice and Reports on Well. This NTL does not impose additional information collection requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act.

If you have any questions on this NTL, please contact the Gulf of Mexico regional office of Field Operations at (504) 736-2845.

Charles J. Schoennagel
for Chris Oynes
Regional Director

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