AIMS LLC Begins Permitting and Bonding Services for OCS Platforms
Assurance Integrity Management Services LLC (AIMS LLC), based in Houston, Texas, announced today the launch of its new business line, AIMS LLC Permitting and Bonding Division, which is a newly created service targeted toward midsize oil and gas companies that are required to obtain new permits and bonds for offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Since 2015, an increasing number of midsize petroleum companies have begun acquiring oil and gas production platforms on the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico that were previously owned by major oil companies. These new operators are finding low-cost methods to operate the wells and bring them back onstream through workovers and platform-life extensions for five to 10 years to certify additional reserves.
However, under the new regulations in the Gulf of Mexico, which are administrated by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSSE), a division of the US Department of the Interior, the permitting and bonding requirements have grown multifold. For example:
In accordance with Title 30 Code of Federal Regulations, an operator must submit a “Form BSEE-0124 Application for Permit to Modify” for proposed or completed work describing the completion, workover, enhanced production, utility, abandonment, change of well information and other operations that revise an approved drilling plan. Once deemed submitted, BSEE reviews the information to evaluate, and approve or disapprove the adequacy of the equipment and/or procedures to safely perform the proposed drilling operation. ——BSEE
In response to these regulations, AIMS LLC formed a technical group to specialize in transfers of title, platform permitting, and filing for liability and plug-and-abandonment bonds that are now required.
“We recently completed similar services for a specific client that acquired a deepwater tension-leg platform,” says Steve Hill, principal of AIMS LLC. “Beginning today, we are pleased to announce that these services are now available to everyone, especially to operators that are seeking an expedient transfer of these assets.”
