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30 U.S.C. 1751, 31 U.S.C. 9701, 33 U.S.C. 1321(j)(1)(C), 43 U.S.C. 1334.
76 FR 64462, Oct. 18, 2011, unless otherwise noted.
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Subscribe to: 30 CFR Part 250 Subpart I - Platform Approval Program
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Nomenclature changes to part 250 appear at 77 FR 50891, Aug. 22, 2012.
(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 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 of this subpart.
[81 FR 26022, Apr. 29, 2016, as amended at 90 FR 44327, Sept. 15, 2025]
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).
| Required submittal | Required contents | Other requirements |
|---|---|---|
| (a) Application cover letter | Proposed structure designation, lease number, area, name, and block number, and the type of facility your facility (e.g., drilling, production, quarters). The structure designation must be unique for the field (some fields are made up of several blocks); i.e. once a platform “A” has been used in the field there should never be another platform “A” even if the old platform “A” has been removed. Single well free standing caissons should be given the same designation as the well. All other structures are to be designated by letter designations | You must submit three copies. If, your facility is subject to the Platform Verification Program (PVP), you must submit four copies. |
| (b) Location plat | Latitude and longitude coordinates, Universal Mercator grid-system coordinates, state plane coordinates in the Lambert or Transverse Mercator Projection System, and distances in feet from the nearest block lines. These coordinates must be based on the NAD (North American Datum) 27 datum plane coordinate system | Your plat must be drawn to a scale of 1 inch equals 2,000 feet and include the coordinates of the lease block boundary lines. You must submit three copies. |
| (c) Front, Side, and Plan View drawings | Platform dimensions and orientation, elevations relative to M.L.L.W. (Mean Lower Low Water), and pile sizes and penetration | Your drawing sizes must not exceed 11″ × 17″. You must submit three copies (four copies for PVP applications). |
| (d) Complete set of structural drawings | The approved for construction fabrication drawings should be submitted including; e.g., cathodic protection systems; jacket design; pile foundations; drilling, production, and pipeline risers and riser tensioning systems; turrets and turret-and-hull interfaces; mooring and tethering systems; foundations and anchoring systems | Your drawing sizes must not exceed 11″ × 17″. You must submit one copy. |
| (e) Summary of environmental data | A summary of the environmental data described in the applicable standards referenced under § 250.901(a) of this subpart and in § 250.198 of Subpart A, where the data is used in the design or analysis of the platform. Examples of relevant data include information on waves, wind, current, tides, temperature, snow and ice effects, marine growth, and water depth | You must submit one copy. |
| (f) Summary of the engineering design data | Loading information (e.g., live, dead, environmental), structural information (e.g., design-life; material types; cathodic protection systems; design criteria; fatigue life; jacket design; deck design; production component design; pile foundations; drilling, production, and pipeline risers and riser tensioning systems; turrets and turret-and-hull interfaces; foundations, foundation pilings and templates, and anchoring systems; mooring or tethering systems; fabrication and installation guidelines), and foundation information (e.g., soil stability, design criteria) | You must submit one copy. |
| (g) Project-specific studies used in the platform design or installation | All studies pertinent to platform design or installation, e.g., oceanographic and/or soil reports including the overall site investigative report required in § 250.906 | You must submit one copy of each study. |
| (h) Description of the loads imposed on the facility | Loads imposed by jacket; decks; production components; drilling, production, and pipeline risers, and riser tensioning systems; turrets and turret-and-hull interfaces; foundations, foundation pilings and templates, and anchoring systems; and mooring or tethering systems | You must submit one copy. |
| (i) Summary of safety factors utilized | A summary of pertinent derived factors of safety against failure for major structural members, e.g., unity check ratios exceeding 0.85 for steel-jacket platform members, indicated on “line” sketches of jacket sections | You must submit one copy. |
| (j) A copy of the in-service inspection plan | This plan is described in § 250.919 | You must submit one copy. |
| (k) Certification statement | The following statement: “The design of this structure has been certified by a recognized classification society, or a registered civil or structural engineer or equivalent, or a naval architect or marine engineer or equivalent, specializing in the design of offshore structures. The certified design and as-built plans and specifications will be on file at (give location)” | An authorized company representative must sign the statement. You must submit one copy. |
| (l) Payment of the service fee listed in § 250.125. |
(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.
(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.
(a) API RP 2A-WSD, Recommended Practice for Planning, Designing and Constructing Fixed Offshore Platforms (as incorporated by reference in § 250.198), 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.
| If . . . | Then . . . |
|---|---|
| (1) There is sufficient structural redundancy to prevent catastrophic failure of the platform or structure under consideration, | The results of the fatigue analysis must indicate a minimum calculated life of twice the design life of the platform. |
| (2) There is not sufficient structural redundancy to prevent catastrophic failure of the platform or structure, | The results of a fatigue analysis must indicate a minimum calculated life or three times the design life of the platform. |
| (3) The desirable degree of redundancy is significantly reduced as a result of fatigue damage, | The results of a fatigue analysis must indicate a minimum calculated life of three times the design life of the platform. |
(b) The documents incorporated by reference in § 250.901 may require larger safety factors than indicated in paragraph (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) of this section, the requirements of the incorporated document will prevail.
[76 FR 64462, Oct. 18, 2011, as amended at 81 FR 36150, June 6, 2016]