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January 27, 2005
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Regulation
Terminology (30 CFR 253.3)
- Advertise - publication of the notice of designation of the source of
the incident and the procedures by which the claims may be presented, according to 33 CFR part 136, subpart D.
- Claim - a written request, for a specific sum, for compensation for
damages or removal costs resulting from an oil-spill discharge or a substantial threat of
the discharge of oil.
- Claimant - any person or government who presents a claim for
compensation under OPA.
- Coastline - the line of ordinary low water along that portion of the
coast that is in direct contact with the open sea which marks the seaward limit of inland
waters.
- Covered Offshore Facility (COF) - a facility:
- that includes any structure and all its components (including wells completed at the
structure and the associated pipelines), equipment, pipeline, or device (other than a
vessel or other than a pipeline or deepwater port licensed under the Deepwater Port Act of
1974 (33 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.)) used for
exploring for, drilling for, or producing oil or for transporting oil from such
facilities. This includes a well drilled from a mobile
offshore drilling unit (MODU) and the associated riser and well control equipment from
the moment a drill shaft or other device first touches the seabed for purposes of
exploring for, drilling for, or producing oil, but it does not include the MODU; and
- That is located:
- Seaward of the coastline; or
- In any portion of a bay that is:
- Connected to the sea, either directly or through one or more other bays; and
- Depicted in whole or in part on any U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) map listed in the Appendix, or on any map published
by the USGS that is a successor to and covers all or part of the same area as a listed
map. Where any portion of a bay is included on a listed map, this rule applies to the
entire bay; and
- That has a worst case oil spill discharge potential of more than 1,000 bbls of oil, or a
lesser volume if the Director determines in writing that the oil-spill discharge risk
justifies the requirement to demonstrate OSFR.
- de minimis - a worst case oil spill potential of 1,000
barrels or less.
- Designated applicant
- a person the responsible parties designate
to demonstrate OSFR for a COF on a lease, permit, or right-of-use and easement.
- Director - the Director of the Minerals Management Service.
- FAX Binder (30 CFR 253.29(d)) - a facsimile copy of
Form MMS-1019, Insurance Certificate, completed to show the full insurance slip, i.e., all
underwriters with their individual quota shares, and at least one Insurance
Underwriter’s signature, and submitted to the MMS as a FAX copy of evidence. This
binder, completed in accordance with 30 CFR 253.29(d), may be used as temporary insurance
evidence of OSFR.
- Fixed Offshore Facility - a bottom-founded offshore facility permanently attached
to the seabed of Federal, State, or Territorial coastal waters of the United States of
America. This term includes platforms, guyed towers, articulated gravity platforms,
single- and multi-well caissons, gravel and ice islands, caisson retained islands, sub-sea
wells and manifolds, and similar facilities designed for drilling, production, storage, or
transportation of oil. This does not include marina structure and piers, and marine
loading docks not connected to offshore facilities in, on, or under Federal, State, or
Territorial coastal waters of the United States of America as described in 30 CFR 253.
This definition also does not include facilities licensed under the Deepwater Port Act of
1994.
- Floating Offshore Facility - a buoyant offshore facility, securely and
substantially moored or otherwise connected to the seabed of Federal, State, or
Territorial coastal waters of the United States of America, that cannot be moved without
substantial effort. This term includes tension leg platforms, spars, and similar
facilities designed or modified for drilling, production, separation, or storage of oil.
These facilities may have semi-submersible or ship-shape hulls.
- Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) - the database developed by
the USGS in cooperation with the U.S.
Board on Geographic Names which contains the federally-recognized geographic names for
all known places, features, and areas in the United States that are identified by a proper
name. Each feature is located by state, county, and geographic coordinates and is
referenced to the appropriate 1:24,000-scale or 1:63,360-scale USGS topographic map on
which it is shown.
- Guarantor - a person other than a responsible party who provides OSFR
evidence for a designated applicant.
- Guaranty - any acceptable form of OSFR evidence provided by a
guarantor including an indemnity, insurance, or surety bond.
- Incident - any occurrence or series of occurrences having the same
origin that results in the discharge or substantial threat of the discharge of oil.
An oil or gas condensate spill or blowout form a single well, platform, or pipeline
resulting from any equipment failure, human action, or weather condition.
- Indemnity - an agreement to indemnify a designated applicant upon its
satisfaction of a claim.
- Indemnitor - a person providing an indemnity for a designated
applicant.
- Independent accountant - a certified public accountant (CPA) who is
certified by a state, or a chartered accountant certified by the government of
jurisdiction within the country of incorporation of the company proposing to use one of
the self-insurance evidence methods specified in this subpart.
- Insolvent - meaning set forth in 11 U.S.C. 101,
and generally refers to a financial condition in which the sum of a person’s debts is
greater than the value of the person’s assets.
- Lease - any form of authorization issued under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act or state law which allows oil
and gas exploration and production in the area covered by the authorization.
- Lease Term Pipeline - a pipeline that is wholly contained within the boundaries
of a single lease, unitized leases, or contiguous (not cornering) leases of the same owner
or operator.
- Lessee - a person holding a leasehold interest in an oil or gas lease
including an owner of record title or a holder of operating rights (working interest
owner).
- Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) - facilities
designed or modified to engage in drilling and exploration activities, but not production,
separation, or storage of oil in or on Federal, State, or Territorial coastal waters of
the United States. This term includes drilling vessels, semisubmersibles, submersibles,
jack-ups, and similar facilities that can be moved without substantial effort. These
facilities may or may not have self-propulsion equipment on board and may require dynamic
positioning equipment or mooring systems to maintain their position.
- Oil - oil of any kind or in any form, except as
excluded by paragraph (2) of this definition.
- Oil includes:
- Petroleum, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse, and oil mixed with wastes other than dredged
spoil;
- Hydrocarbons produced at the wellhead in liquid form;
- Gas condensate that has been separated from gas before pipeline injection.
- Oil or gas condensate produced from wells or platforms with a surface location in, on,
or under Federal, State, or Territorial coastal waters of the United States as described
in 30 CFR 253; stored in, on, or under these waters; or transported through pipelines in
or under these waters.
- Oil does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof, which is
specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance under subparagraphs listed or
(A) through (F) of section 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) (42 U.S.C. 9601).
- Oil Spill Financial Responsibility (OSFR) - the capability and means
by which a responsible party for a covered offshore facility will meet removal costs and
damages for which it is liable under Title I of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, as amended (33 CFR 2701 et seq.),
with respect to both oil-spill discharges and substantial threats of the discharge of oil.
- Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) - same meaning as the term "Outer
Continental Shelf" defined in section 2(a) of the OCS Lands Act (OCSLA) (43 U.S.C. 1331(a)).
- Permit - an authorization, license, or permit for geological
exploration issued under section 11 of the OCSLA (43 U.S.C. 1340)
or applicable state law.
- Person - an individual, corporation, partnership, association
(including a trust or limited liability company), state, municipality, commission or
political subdivision of a state, or any interstate body.
- Pipeline - the pipeline segments and any associated equipment or
appurtenances used or intended for use in the transportation of oil or natural gas.
- Responsible party - has the following meanings:
- For a COF that is a pipeline, responsible party means any person owning or operating the
pipeline;
- For a COF that is not a pipeline, responsible party means either the lessee or permittee
of the area in which the COF is located, or the holder of a right-of-use and easement
granted under applicable state law or the OCSLA (43 U.S.C.
1301-1356) for the area in which the COF is located (if the holder is a different
person than the lessee or permittee). A Federal agency, State, municipality, commission,
or political subdivision of a state, or any interstate body that as owner transfers
possession and right to use the property to another person by lease, assignment, or permit
is not a responsible party; and
- For an abandoned COF, responsible party means any person who would have been a
responsible party for the COF immediately before abandonment.
- Right-of-use and easement (RUE) - any authorization to use the OCS or
submerged land for purposes other than those authorized by a lease or permit, as defined
herein. It includes pipeline rights-of-way. A permit issued by the MMS to install or
use one of the following types of offshore facilities: (a) a right-of-way pipeline which
may include appurtenant structures, installed on leased or unleased offshore areas, or (b)
a platform used as the surface location for one or more wells drilled to bottom hole
locations on nearby offshore areas and installed on an unleased offshore area.
- Source of the incident - the facility from which oil was discharged or
which poses a substantial threat of discharging oil, as designated by the Director, NPFC, according to 33
CFR part 136, subpart D.
- State - the several States of the United States, the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin
Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and any other territory or possession
of the United States.
- U.S. Agent for Service of Process (30 CFR 253.5(b))
- a designated agent of the company to ensure that all potential claimants have a readily
available contact and to whom claimants can submit legal paperwork for claims for oil
spill clean-up and damages specified in OPA 90. A company officer whose primary business
office is located within the confines of the United States may be named as a company's
agent. A person or company whose function is to accept and process claims paperwork for
the company may also be named as a company's agent.
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