On July the 23rd, 2020, the Ministry of Mines and Energy (“MME”) published a draft resolution “By which the technical criteria for off-shore hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation projects in Colombia are established”, which may be subject to comments by interested parties. Such comments shall be submitted before the MME until today, July the 30th, at the latest. The draft resolution is available here.
We highlight the following aspects from the draft resolution:
We highlight the following aspects from the draft resolution:
- Its purpose is to establish the technical requirements for the execution of offshore hydrocarbon production exploration projects and activities, for promoting a safe, sustainable, and responsible development of the sector.
- Its scope of application includes operators that develop drilling, well intervention and offshore hydrocarbon production activities under the seabed in shallow, deep and/or ultra-deep waters of the Colombian territory, and legal entities that have signed any contract for the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons with the National Hydrocarbons Agency or with Ecopetrol S.A.
- The use of norms, standards or practices different from those indicated in the draft resolution by an operator shall require the prior approval of the MME or the competent authority, a request that must contain technical reasons that justify departing from the resolution and that demonstrate that the proposal guarantees the same or better conditions of sustainable and responsible development of the activity, to minimize the environmental impact, the safety of persons and equipment used.
- The operator must comply with international standards regarding process safety during drilling, well intervention, and offshore hydrocarbon production activities, and the obligation to demand training and certification from suppliers of goods and services, so that responsible occupational health, industrial safety, and environmental practices are adopted (Title 2).
- To carry out activities of design, construction and operation of fixed platforms, construction, completion, drilling and abandonment of wells, the operator must comply with certain international standards and/or technical requirements set forth in Title 3 of the draft resolution. Likewise, Title 4 establishes that when an operator considers it necessary to intervene a well or carry out initial production tests, it must have the prior authorization of the MME or whoever it designates.
- To carry out production activities, the operator must submit to the MME or whomever it designates a development plan containing the information referred to in article 24 of the resolution and must comply with the standards and practices indicated in article 25 and subsequent articles for the design and assembly of fixed and floating production structures, facilities and pipelines and underwater installations.
- The MME or any other competent authority may carry out directly, or through third parties, scheduled inspections of the drilling and well intervention teams, giving the operator written notice of such inspections with a period of notice.
- To ensure its capacity to respond to spills and well containment, and without prejudice to the Contingency Plan approved by the competent environmental authority, the operator using safety valves of the submarine or surface BOP type must demonstrate that it can deploy adequate containment resources to respond to explosions or loss of control of the well, certifying the existence of a contract with a well containment company accredited for such purpose.
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