世界石油

^{(WO) 4 月 15日}星期一，内政部宣布了海洋能源管理局 (BOEM) 的一项最终规则，要求石油和天然气行业筹集近 70 亿美元用于退役海上平台。

最终的 OCS 租赁和赠款义务风险管理和财务保证规则通过大幅提高运营商必须提前提供的财务保证水平来修订现有法规。

新规则建立了两个指标，BOEM 将通过这两个指标评估一家公司对美国纳税人构成的风险：

• 公司的财务健康状况。 该规则简化了 BOEM 通过使用国家认可统计评级组织的信用评级或等效代理信用评级来确定公司财务实力的因素数量。
• 保留价值。  BOEM 将考虑租赁剩余已探明石油和天然气储量的当前价值与履行退役义务的估计成本进行比较。如果租约仍有大量可用储备，那么在破产的情况下，租约可能会被另一家运营商收购，后者将承担堵塞和废弃责任。

没有投资级信用评级或充足证明储备的公司将需要提供补充财务保证以遵守新规则。

此外，该规则还明确，当前赠款持有人和承租人必须持有财务保证，以确保遵守租赁义务，并且不能依赖先前所有者的财务实力。 BOEM 继续保持其寻求先前承租人履行退役义务的能力。

根据新规则，BOEM 估计石油和天然气行业将需要提供 69 亿美元的新财务保证。为了使行业能够灵活地满足新的财务保证要求，BOEM 将允许现有承租人和赠款持有人请求在三年内分阶段付款，以满足该规则要求的新的补充财务保证要求。

BOEM 董事 Elizabeth Klein 表示：“近海石油和天然气行业在过去 20 年里取得了显着发展，我们的财务保证法规也需要跟上步伐。”

主要图片（来源：世界石油）

World Oil

(WO) — On Monday, April 15^th, the Department of the Interior announced a final rule from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) that requires the oil and gas industry to raise nearly $7 billion for decommissioning offshore platforms.

The final Risk Management and Financial Assurance for OCS Lease and Grant Obligations rule amends existing regulations by substantially increasing the level of financial assurances that operators must provide in advance.

The new rule establishes two metrics by which BOEM will assess the risk that a company poses for American taxpayers:

• Financial health of a company. The rule streamlines the number of factors BOEM uses to determine the financial strength of a company by using a credit rating from a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization, or a proxy credit rating equivalent.
• Reserve value. BOEM will consider the current value of the remaining proved oil and gas reserves on the lease compared to the estimated cost of meeting decommissioning obligations. If the lease has significant reserves still available, then in the event of a bankruptcy, the lease will likely be acquired by another operator who will assume the plugging and abandonment liabilities.

Companies without an investment-grade credit rating or sufficient proved reserves will need to provide supplemental financial assurance to comply with the new rule.

Additionally, the rule clarifies that current grant holders and lessees must hold financial assurance to ensure compliance with lease obligations and cannot rely on the financial strength of prior owners. BOEM continues to maintain its ability to pursue prior lessees to meet decommissioning obligations.

Under the new rule, BOEM estimates the oil and gas industry will be required to provide $6.9 billion in new financial assurances. To provide the industry with flexibility to meet the new financial assurance requirements, BOEM will allow current lessees and grant holders to request phased-in payments over three years to meet the new supplemental financial assurance demands required by the rule.

“The offshore oil and gas industry has evolved significantly over the last 20 years, and our financial assurance regulations need to keep pace,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein.

Lead image (Credit: World Oil)