(a) No tubing string shall be placed in service or continue to be used unless such tubing string has the necessary strength and pressure integrity and is otherwise suitable for its intended use.
(b) When the tree is installed, you must equip wells to monitor for casing pressure according to the following chart:
| If you . . . | you must equip . . . | so you can monitor . . . |
|---|---|---|
| (1) fixed platform wells, | the wellhead, | all annuli (A, B, C, D, etc., annuli). |
| (2) subsea wells, | the tubing head, | the production casing annulus (A annulus). |
| (3) hybrid* wells, | the surface wellhead, | all annuli at the surface (A and B riser annuli). If the production casing below the mudline and the production casing riser above the mudline are pressure isolated from each other, provisions must be made to monitor the production casing below the mudline for casing pressure. |
*Characterized as a well drilled with a subsea wellhead and completed with a surface casing head, a surface tubing head, a surface tubing hanger, and a surface christmas tree.
(c) Wellhead, tree, and related equipment shall have a pressure rating greater than the shut-in tubing pressure and shall be designed, installed, used, maintained, and tested so as to achieve and maintain pressure control. New wells completed as flowing or gas-lift wells shall be equipped with a minimum of one master valve and one surface safety valve, installed above the master valve, in the vertical run of the tree.
(d) Subsurface safety equipment must be installed, maintained, and tested in compliance with the applicable sections in §§250.810 through 250.839.
(e) When installed, packers and bridge plugs must meet the following:
(1) The uppermost permanently installed packer and all permanently installed bridge plugs qualified as mechanical barriers must comply with ANSI/API Spec. 11D1 (as incorporated by reference in §250.198);
(2) The production packer must be set at a depth that will allow for a column of weighted fluids to be placed above the packer that will exert a hydrostatic force greater than or equal to the force created by the reservoir pressure below the packer;
(3) The production packer must be set as close as practically possible to the perforated interval; and
(4) The production packer must be set at a depth that is within the cemented interval of the selected casing section.
(f) Your APM must include a description and calculations for how you determined the production packer setting depth.
(g) You must have two independent barriers, one being mechanical, in the exposed center wellbore prior to removing the tree and/or well control equipment.
[76 FR 64462, Oct. 18, 2011. Redesignated at 77 FR 50894, Aug. 22, 2012, as amended at 81 FR 26021, Apr. 29, 2016; 81 FR 61918, Sept. 7, 2016; 84 FR 21976, May 15, 2019]
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