BP Sets Up New Safety and Risk Unit

photo : Wikipedia

The incoming BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley has announced that the company will set up a new Safety and Operational Risk function.

This change, implemented as a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident, creates a division reporting directly to Dudley and with responsibility "for ensuring that all operations are carried out to common standards, and for auditing compliance with those standards".

Dudley has also announced that BP will also review how it rewards its managers, with the stated aim of encoraging excellence in safety and risk management.

The blog applauds these actions, this is an appropriate response to such a catastrophic incident, putting process safety and risk management to the top of the corporate agenda. The only question is, why was this action not taken after Texas City?

ACC Calls For End of Moratorium on Deepwater Drilling

photo : www.offshore-technology.com

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) has called for a solution to be found to end the drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico.

The ACC President and CEO, Cal Dooley, made these remarks in The Hill's Congress Blog. Dooley noted the potential harm to US Manufacturing, including chemicals manufacturing, of policies that will reduce the availability and increase the price of energy in the future.

Whilst the moratorium is understandable, as a reaction to events in the Gulf of Mexico, the issue needs to be considered in its wider context. Whilst this blog has long argued for a policy of sustainability and energy efficiency, the world is still highly dependent on fossil fuels and we are very far away from having an energy future based entirely on renewables.

Peak Oil is a major subject by itself, but all experts agree that we are well past the peak of oil discovery and that we are approaching, in the short-to-medium term, the peak of oil production. This means that oil and gas production from unconventional sources, such as shale gas, is increasingly important and we must also continue to find and safely and efficiently produce oil and gas from all conventional sources.

This does not mean that we should take unnecessary risks in doing so but instead should find engineered solutions to our issues and operate under a regime of thorough oversight and regulation. The Gulf of Mexico incident was a tragedy and steps must be taken to prevent this from happening in the future but we cannot afford to call a halt to deepwater production at this time.

CSB to Investigate Deepwater Horizon Incident

photo :Oilonline.com

I'm very pleased to hear that the US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has been invited to investigate the causes of the explosion on the Transocean/BP oil rig, which occurred on 20th April.

The CSB takes a very holistic approach to its investigations, looking at technical factors but very importantly, the organisational, cultural and human factors which may have contributed to such an incident.

An additional benefit of a CSB investigation is the fact that CSB is capable of producing excellent material to share all of the learnings with the wider community. The video  'anatomy of a disaster' about Texas City is a must see for chemical industry professionals.

In a letter to Senator Henry Waxman, the CSB Chairman, John Bresland, has agreed that the investigation will look for similarities with the BP Texas City explosion but stressed the importance that the investigation be carried out without preconceptions and that all of the underlying causes and factors are thoroughly examined.

This point is essential. Politicians and some media outlets have been very quick to condemn BP as 'guilty'. Some of the accusations may prove to be valid but this can only be fairly determined with a thorough and proper investigation of all of the issues and all of the parties involved.

Deepwater Horizon Incident Leads to Regulatory Reforms

photo : Upstream Today

As efforts continue to stop the flow of oil and manage the environmental impacts of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the US Government has indicated that it will implement a series of regulatory reforms to minimise the risk of such an incident happening again.

Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, has announced a series of reforms that will provide federal inspectors more tools, more resources, more independence, and greater authority to enforce laws and regulations that apply to oil and gas companies operating in US offshore areas.

Meanwhile, the question of blame is making the headlines. It was reported this week that US oil industry regulator the Minerals Management Service did not enforce the installation of a secondary shutdown system to give back up in the case of failure of the blow out valve. It is also reported that the various parties involved in the incident are already pointing the finger at each other in apportioning blame.

The immediate issues must be resolved by all parties working together to stop the leak and to address the environmental situation in the most effective manner possible. Detailed investigations and apportionment of blame will undoubtedly follow.

A technically sound and proven back up safety system has to be designed and implemented on similar offshore patforms. This is, in my view, essential in order to avoid a major loss of public and government support for the offshore oil and gas industry. With a significant proportion of the world's offshore reserves being located offshore, failure to do something different is not an option.