43 U.S.C. § 1356b — Transboundary hydrocarbon agreements

(a) Authorization. After December 26, 2013, the Secretary^* may implement the terms of any “transboundary hydrocarbon agreement” for managing transboundary hydrocarbon reservoirs if the President entered into the agreement and Congress approved it. This section does not define the term “transboundary hydrocarbon agreement.” When implementing such an agreement, the Secretary must protect United States interests, promote domestic job creation, and ensure the prompt and orderly development^* and conservation of domestic mineral resources. The Secretary must do this under all applicable United States laws governing the exploration^*, development, and production^* of hydrocarbon resources on the Outer Continental Shelf^*. (b) Submission to Congress. (1) In general. No later than 180 days after all parties to a transboundary hydrocarbon agreement have agreed to its terms, the Secretary must submit the agreement to the following people if, in the President’s judgment, the agreement is not a treaty: (A) the Speaker of the House of Representatives; (B) the Majority Leader of the Senate; (C) the Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives; and (D) the Chair of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate. (2) Contents of submission. The submission must include: (A) any amendments to this subchapter or another federal law that are necessary to implement the agreement; (B) an analysis of the economic effects that the agreement and any amendments required by the agreement will have on domestic exploration, development, and production of hydrocarbon resources on the Outer Continental Shelf; and (C) a detailed description of any regulations that the Secretary is expected to issue to implement the agreement. (c) Implementation of specific transboundary agreement with Mexico. The Secretary may take actions necessary to implement the terms of the Agreement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States Concerning Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico, signed at Los Cabos on February 20, 2012, including: (1) approving unitization agreements and related arrangements for exploring, developing, or producing oil and natural gas from transboundary reservoirs or geological structures; (2) making available, but only to the limited extent necessary under the agreement and subject to the agreement’s confidentiality protections, information about the exploration, development, and production of oil and natural gas from a transboundary reservoir or geological structure that may be considered confidential, privileged, or proprietary information under law; (3) taking actions consistent with an expert determination under the agreement; and (4) ensuring that only appropriate inspection staff at the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or other federal-agency personnel designated by the Bureau, the operator, or the lessee, have authority to stop work on any installation, other device, or vessel permanently or temporarily attached to the seabed of the United States that may be erected there for resource-exploration, development, or production activities approved by the Secretary. (d) Savings provisions. Nothing in this section may be interpreted: (1) to authorize the Secretary to participate in negotiations, conferences, or consultations with Cuba about exploring, developing, or producing hydrocarbon resources in the Gulf of Mexico along the United States maritime border with Cuba or in the area that the Department of the Interior calls the “Eastern Gap”; or (2) as affecting the sovereign rights and jurisdiction that the United States has under international law over the Outer Continental Shelf that belongs to the United States.