Data / Federal rules / 2026-04517

Risk Management and Financial Assurance for OCS Lease and Grant Obligations

The Ocean Energy Management Bureau published this proposed rule in the Federal Register on March 9, 2026. Comments closed on May 8, 2026.

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What the agency says

The Department of the Interior (the Department or DOI), acting through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), in response to Executive Order (E.O.) 14154 of January 20, 2025, Unleashing American Energy, as well as Secretarial Order No. 3418 of February 3, 2025, has reviewed market conditions of supply and demand in the crude oil and gas markets, and, as a result, is proposing to amend its existing risk management and financial assurance regulations. BOEM is tasked with managing the development of U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) energy, mineral, and geological resources in an environmentally and economically responsible way. As such, BOEM is proposing to maintain certain provisions of the existing regulations and modify only those elements that, under new market conditions, merit updating. The major proposed amendments in this rule include returning to the previous BOEM practice of considering the financial strength of jointly liable predecessor lessees, revising the credit rating threshold for determining whether oil, gas, and sulfur lessees, right-of-use and easement (RUE) grant holders, and pipeline right-of-way (ROW) grant holders on the OCS are required to provide supplemental financial assurance above the required general financial assurance amount to ensure compliance with their Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) obligations, revising the decommissioning estimate used to determine the amount of supplemental financial assurance required, and revising the appeals bond provision related to the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) appeal procedures. Each of these proposed amendments will be discussed in its corresponding section of this preamble. This proposed rule, if finalized, would significantly reduce the amount of supplemental financial assurance required from oil, gas, and sulfur lessees operating on the OCS, thereby supporting the goals of E.O. 14154 Unleashing American Energy. BOEM estimates that a total of approximately $6.2 billion of financial burden to the regulated community will be reduced. This reduction of the financial burden increases the amount of capital available for oil and gas exploration and production on the OCS.

Key facts

Document number

2026-04517

Type

Proposed rule

Action

Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment

Agency

Interior Department; Ocean Energy Management Bureau

Published

March 9, 2026

Comments due

May 8, 2026

Dates

BOEM must receive your comments on or before May 8, 2026. BOEM has the discretion not to consider comments received after this date. You may make comments on the information collection (IC) burden in this rulemaking and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and BOEM must receive such comments on or before April 8, 2026. The IC burden comment opportunity does not affect the deadline for the public to comment to BOEM on the proposed regulations.

Docket

Docket No. BOEM-2025-0042

Regulation ID (RIN)

1010-AE26

Code of Federal Regulations

30 CFR 550; 30 CFR 556; 30 CFR 590

Topics

Administrative practice and procedure; Oil and gas exploration; Pipelines; Reporting and recordkeeping requirements; Rights-of-way; Sulfur

Significant

Yes, under Executive Order 12866

Pages

29

The document on federalregister.gov PDF

Other documents from the Ocean Energy Management Bureau

Everything from the Ocean Energy Management Bureau · Rules on administrative practice and procedure · Rules on oil and gas exploration · Rules on pipelines · Published in March 2026

Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-23. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.