Interior finalizes drilling-safety rule stemming from 2010 BP oil spill

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) finalized an offshore drilling rule Wednesday that cements safety measures put in place after the 2010 BP oil explosion.

Industry has already started implementing many of the standards. Those were put in place in September 2010 in response to BP’s failure to contain the Macondo well of its Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

The rule includes new standards for well designs, requires third-party verification that subsea “blowout preventers” can close off drill-pipes and many other measures.

“The oil and gas industry has been operating under these enhanced safety requirements for the past two years,” BSEE Director Jim Watson said in a statement Wednesday. “Today’s action builds on the lessons learned from the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and is part of the Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to expand safe and responsible development of America’s domestic energy resources.”

BSEE said the final rule clarifies the descriptions and classifications of well-control barriers, defines cement-testing requirements and refines installation standards for dual mechanical barriers, among other things.

This story was updated at 9:46 p.m.