§1356b Transboundary Hydrocarbon Agreements

Summary

After December 26, 2013, the Secretary may carry out any agreement the President made and Congress approved about managing oil and gas reservoirs that cross borders under the sea. When doing that, the Secretary must protect U.S. interests, help create jobs at home, and make sure domestic mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf are developed and conserved quickly and in an orderly way while following all U.S. laws that apply to exploring, developing, and producing those resources. If the President decides the agreement is not a treaty, the Secretary must send it within 180 days after all parties agree to the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, the Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, and the Chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. That submission must show any legal changes needed, analyze the economic effects on U.S. Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities, and describe expected regulations. The Secretary may also take steps to carry out the U.S.–Mexico agreement on shared Gulf of Mexico reservoirs signed at Los Cabos on February 20, 2012, including approving unitization deals, sharing confidential information only as allowed and protected by the agreement, following expert determinations, and limiting who can order work to stop on installations attached to the U.S. seabed. The Secretary may not take part in negotiations with Cuba about Gulf of Mexico oil and gas along the U.S. maritime border or the area called the “Eastern Gap,” and nothing here limits the United States’ sovereign rights over its Outer Continental Shelf under international law.