Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations on the Outer Continental Shelf-Revisions to the Requirements for Exploratory Drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf

What it does

The Department of the Interior (DOI or Department), acting through BSEE and BOEM (collectively, "the Bureaus"), is proposing to revise its existing regulations for exploratory drilling and related operations on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), to reduce unnecessary burdens on stakeholders while ensuring that energy exploration on the Arctic OCS is safe and environmentally responsible.\1\ This proposed rule would revise certain requirements promulgated through the rule entitled, Oil and Gas and Sulfur Operations on the Outer Continental Shelf--Requirements for Exploratory Drilling on the Arctic Outer Continental Shelf ("2016 Arctic Exploratory Drilling Rule") (see 81 FR 46478). This proposed rule would modify existing Arctic OCS blowout preventer (BOP) real-time monitoring requirements and add new provisions to BSEE's regulations pertaining to requirements for crane operations on artificial islands, suspensions of operations (SOO), and suspensions of production (SOP). This proposed rule would also revise certain parts of the Exploration Plan (EP) and Development and Production Plan (DPP) regulations implemented by BOEM. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Safety and Environmental Enforcement Bureau's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

3 parts of Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

30 CFR 250, 30 CFR 254, 30 CFR 550

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 1082-AA05 since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

Submit comments on this proposed rule to BSEE on or before October 5, 2026. The Bureaus may not fully consider comments received after this date. You may submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on the information collection burden in this proposed rule by September 8, 2026. The deadline for comments on the information collection burden does not affect the deadline for the public to

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket BSEE-2026-0133 on Regulations.gov
• Title 30 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register