BSEE Offshore API Number Change Lineage Study 2026

BSEE Offshore API Number Change Lineage Study 2026: Research question

How should a land team preserve federal offshore well identity when API-change files, borehole records, permits, scanned documents, and production rows use different identifiers?

Executive finding

An API-change row is a crosswalk event, not authority to rewrite historical evidence. The old and new identifiers must remain paired with the dataset version, while every permit, borehole, document, and production observation retains the identifier it displayed.

Offshore source sequence

The BSEE Raw Data Downloads route supplies the versioned API-change and related datasets used for the crosswalk. The API List Online Query and Well Data Query provide current lookup paths. Scanned permits and other documents preserve the identifier used when the artifact was created. Production downloads add dated rows whose coverage may differ from the current query. These are complementary sources, not interchangeable copies.

Start with the API-change row and save the entire old and new identifiers as text. Record the file name, published update date when supplied, retrieval timestamp, row position, and byte hash of the permitted saved copy. Then locate both identifiers through the current and historical routes. This order matters because beginning with the current master list makes it easy to overwrite the legacy key before its documentary role is understood.

The relationship table should state what each source actually proves. The change file proves that its version displayed a particular old-new pair. A scanned permit proves which identifier appeared on that document. A borehole row supplies its own wellbore fields. Production rows show the identifier attached to the reported periods in that dataset version. The reviewer can reconcile those facts, but the worksheet should not present the reconciliation as an agency statement unless the source says so.

Dataset versions and refresh timing

Raw downloads and online queries can refresh on different schedules. Record versions from the same research session where possible and keep the retrieval times. If the current API query shows the new number while a raw production file still carries the old number, document both conditions. Do not move the production rows to the new identifier merely to make the export internally consistent.

Version control also protects against a disappearing crosswalk. Save enough metadata to retrieve or recognize the exact change file reviewed. A later version may add rows, remove a correction, or reorder the dataset. Without the file identity and row evidence, a reviewer cannot reproduce why two API numbers were connected.

Period coverage and document retrieval

For production data, summarize the first and last observed periods under each identifier and name the dataset version. Gaps remain gaps. The crosswalk can support a search under both numbers, but it does not authorize the researcher to infer production for a missing period or decide which identifier legally owns a reported volume.

Document collections require the same two-key search. Preserve the original locator for a permit or scanned filing found under the legacy API. Add the crosswalk relationship beside it. Do not rename the artifact or claim that BSEE re-indexed it. If an expected document appears under neither identifier, record both searches and the query conditions.

Crosswalk release rule

Release a proposed relationship only when the versioned change row is reproduced and the surrounding attributes do not disclose an unresolved conflict. Useful attributes include region, area, block, lease, well name, suffix, and company context. A company mismatch may reflect a later operator change; it still needs dated evidence rather than an automatic correction.

One-to-many candidates require manual review. Keep every candidate visible, compare suffixes and bottom-hole blocks, and identify which permit or agency artifact could distinguish them. The crosswalk should remain provisional until that evidence is found or an authorized reviewer accepts the stated uncertainty.

Why an API crosswalk is its own evidence object

BSEE publishes API-change downloads separately from the master API query and borehole data. That separation matters. A crosswalk can support the proposition that the agency related two identifiers, but it does not show that every historic document was re-indexed or that every external system adopted the change. Store old API, new API, change-file version, retrieval time, and row position together. Never replace the old number inside a scanned permit or historic production row.

Three identifiers that must not be collapsed

The research model distinguishes the API well number, a borehole or wellbore representation, and the lease-area-block location. They often cooperate in identity work but answer different questions. The API identifies the regulated well record; borehole data may describe a physical or directional component; lease and block fields provide jurisdictional geography. A join that matches only a well name or only the last digits of an API number risks merging separate sidetracks or similarly named wells.

Versioned crosswalk method

Acquire the API-change file and master API list in the same session. Record each file’s published update date, retrieval timestamp, byte hash, and relevant row. Preserve identifier strings exactly, including leading zeroes. Then inspect the current well query and at least one historic document under the prior identifier. The output is a relationship table: old identifier, new identifier, crosswalk source, first observed version, corroborating artifact, unresolved exceptions, and reviewer status.

Testing continuity across permit and production data

A proposed crosswalk becomes stronger when independent fields remain coherent: region, area, block, lease, well name and suffix, and company context. Production period is not an identity field by itself, and a company name can change. If production rows appear only under one number, document the period coverage and dataset version rather than assuming missing periods moved automatically. If a permit remains indexed under the old number, keep its original locator and add the crosswalk as a separate relationship.

Distinguishing fact from reconciliation

It is a fact that a named BSEE file displayed an old-new pair on a recorded date. It is analysis that a permit and borehole row share lease, block, and well attributes. It is an inference that they represent uninterrupted history when the agency does not explicitly state that connection in the artifacts reviewed. The worksheet labels those layers so a convenient crosswalk does not become an unsupported conclusion about physical continuity or legal identity.

Exception pattern: one-to-many candidates

If one legacy identifier appears to correspond to multiple later borehole or well records, stop the automatic join. Compare suffixes, bottom-hole blocks, permit types, directional-survey references, and document dates. A sidetrack, redrill, correction, or data-maintenance event may explain the pattern, but none should be guessed. Route the exception with the candidate rows, the exact matching fields, the conflicting fields, and the agency artifact needed for confirmation.

Crosswalk QA

A reviewer should reproduce the API-change row, verify both full identifiers as text, and reopen a source under each identifier. They should test that exported production periods and scanned-document locators have not been reassigned merely for spreadsheet neatness. Sampling should emphasize changed identifiers with suffixes, adjacent blocks, or different company displays. The final check asks whether the history can be traced without erasing what any source originally showed.

A reviewable crosswalk packet

The handoff should include the exact change-file row, file version and hash, current query results for both identifiers, one historic artifact located under the old key, and the independent attributes used for reconciliation. Production coverage belongs in a separate period table. That layout lets a reviewer accept the identifier relationship without implying that every associated record moved at the same time.

Each exception should name the failed join. Examples include a suffix mismatch, a different bottom-hole block, production periods found only under the legacy number, or multiple current borehole candidates. State the next agency artifact or query needed to distinguish the candidates. Do not reduce those facts to a generic low-confidence flag.

After acceptance, keep the crosswalk versioned. Future research can add a newer agency row or another corroborating document, but it should not rewrite the evidence that supported the earlier decision. This history matters when an old scan remains searchable only through the identifier it originally displayed.

Coverage limits

This study did not reconstruct a specific offshore well, inspect proprietary files, or determine why BSEE changed any identifier. Raw downloads and public queries can have different refresh schedules. Scanned collections may remain under historic keys. The method establishes a conservative identity-crosswalk practice for research support; it does not prove lease rights, wellbore continuity, production ownership, regulatory compliance, or the completeness of agency indexing.

Conclusion

The BSEE change file supplies a versioned relationship between identifiers. The working crosswalk preserves that row beside permits, borehole data, scans, and production records that may still use the earlier number. Reviewers can then search both histories, inspect conflicting suffix or location evidence, and see exactly which periods or documents remain unmatched. The result is a reproducible research aid, not a retroactive rewrite of the agency record.

Sources

• Offshore Data Center - Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Official well, document, permit, and production data directory. Checked October 2, 2026.
• Raw Data Downloads - Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Official API-change, borehole, submission, and production downloads. Checked October 2, 2026.
• API List Online Query - Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Official multiregional API query. Checked October 2, 2026.
• Well Data Query - Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Official well record and scanned-document entry point. Checked October 2, 2026.
• Regions Technical Data - Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Official regional data and permit-status directory. Checked October 2, 2026.
• Oil and Gas Data - U.S. Energy Information Administration. Official federal petroleum-data directory used to distinguish statistical series from filing records. Checked October 2, 2026.
• Energy Data - U.S. Geological Survey. Official federal energy-data entry point used for source-role comparison. Checked October 2, 2026.
• Data Center - Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Official offshore mapping and data entry point used to compare jurisdiction and identifier scope. Checked October 2, 2026.
• Catalog of U.S. Government Publications - U.S. Government Publishing Office. Official publication catalog used to locate and version government materials. Checked October 2, 2026.
• National Archives Catalog - National Archives and Records Administration. Official archival catalog used to document the boundary between current agency systems and archival holdings. Checked October 2, 2026.