API 53

Well Control Equipment Systems for Drilling Wells

Published by American Petroleum Institute (API)

The CFR incorporates API 53 by reference, which makes the edition it names part of the regulation. The CFR requires the edition it names, which may not be the newest. To enforce any other edition, the agency must publish the change in the Federal Register.

The edition the CFR requires

API Std 53, Fifth Edition, December 2018

As the CFR lists it: “API Standard 53, Well Control Equipment Systems for Drilling Wells, Fifth Edition, December 2018 (“API STD 53”)”

How to read it

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A free or purchased copy may not be the edition the CFR names; check it against the edition above. Every incorporated standard can also be inspected at the National Archives (NARA) and at the agency named in the section that lists it.

API 53 is copyrighted by its publisher; RegKnot shows its title and the editions the CFR names, not its text. Read from the eCFR's incorporation-by-reference sections, current as of October 26, 2026. The regulation text governs. All standards the CFR requires.