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Inspecting Offshore Facilities and Enforcing Federal Regulations

The OCS Lands Act authorizes and requires the Bureau to provide for both an annual scheduled inspection and a periodic unscheduled (unannounced) inspection of all oil and gas operations on the outer continental shelf. The annual inspection examines all safety equipment designed to prevent blowouts, fires, spills, or other major accidents.

The Bureau inspectors perform these inspections using a national checklist called the Potential Incident of Noncompliance (PINC) list. This list is a compilation of yes/no questions derived from all regulated safety and environmental requirements.

Potential Incident of Noncompliance (PINC) Guidelines

Certain sections of the PINC Guidelines may be periodically updated to reflect changes in the Code of Federal Regulations. When these changes are necessary, the most recent update will be posted under the heading or subheading of the opened file. Please e-mail Jarvis Abbott if you need additional information.
  Blue Bullet.  Office PINC List (202 KB PDF)
  Blue Bullet.  SEMS PINC List (103 KB PDF)
  Blue Bullet.  Field PINC List: (all file below are in Adobe's PDF format)

bullet Renewable Energy PINCs (56 KB PDF)
bullet Introduction (38 KB PDF)
bullet PINC List Revision Records (221 KB PDF)
bullet  General PINCs (43 KB PDF)
bullet   Pollution PINCs (25 KB PDF)
bullet   Drilling PINCs (109 KB PDF)
bullet   Well-Completion PINCs (200 KB PDF)
bullet   Well-Workover PINCs (224 KB PDF)
bullet   Decommissioning PINCs (31 KB PDF)
bullet   Production PINCs (124 KB PDF)
bullet   Pipelines PINCs (25 KB PDF)
bullet   Measurements & Site Security PINCs (226 KB PDF)
bullet   Hydrogen Sulfide PINCs (67 KB PDF)
bullet   Crane PINCs (47 KB PDF)
bullet   Electrical PINCs (82 KB PDF)
bullet   Personal Safety (USCG) PINCs (57 KB PDF)
Upon detecting a violation, the Bureau Inspector issues an Incident of Noncompliance (INC) to the operator and uses one of two main enforcement actions (warning or shut- in), depending on the severity of the violation. If the violation is not severe or threatening, a warning INC is issued. The warning INC must be corrected within a reasonable amount of time specified on the INC. The shut-in INC may be for a single component (a portion of the facility) or the entire facility. The violation must be corrected before the operator is allowed to continue the activity in question.

In addition to the enforcement actions specified above, the Bureau can assess a civil penalty of up to $35,000 per violation per day if: 1) the operator fails to correct the violation in the reasonable amount of time specified on the INC; or 2) the violation resulted in a threat of serious harm or damage to human life or the environment.