Oil & Natural Gas Industry Calls for Offshore Safety Changes

Two U.S. oil and natural gas industry task forces presented recommendations today to the Department of the Interior on preventing oil spills, enhancing oil spill response and improving subsea well control. The recommendations are part of a comprehensive effort by the industry to strengthen all aspects of offshore safety while continuing to produce energy and create jobs for Americans.

“Following the Gulf accident, the industry launched a comprehensive review of offshore safety. These recommendations are part of that effort,” said API Upstream Director Erik Milito. “Safety is our first responsibility, both to the millions of men and women who work in America’s oil and natural gas industry and to the public that depends on the energy they produce.”

The two task forces provided more than 50 recommendations. They include recommendations for quicker and more effective methods for capping a runaway well to recommendations for how to better remove oil from the water and keep it from coming ashore.

In May, two other industry task forces provided recommendations to the Department of the Interior on industry operating procedures and equipment. And one of those has recently followed up with a new recommendation for offshore operators and drilling contractors to employ a well-construction interfacing document that would integrate all aspects of safety management systems.

In addition, API is reviewing all of its offshore safety standards and recommended practices and is preparing a new deepwater well design standard.

Recently intensified inspections and monitoring by regulators and by industry, including successful inspections of all 33 deepwater drilling rigs, have strengthened offshore safety. “We will continue to build on what has been achieved since the accident, and we must remain vigilant,” said Milito. “However, producing the energy our nation needs and creating jobs are also important. It is time to end the deepwater moratorium that has sent many Gulf workers to the unemployment lines. People are hurting and have to get back to work.”

API’s more than 400 oil and natural gas company members lead a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America’s energy, supports more than 9.2 million U.S. jobs, accounts for 7.5 percent of the U.S. economy, and, since 2000, has invested nearly $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to develop all forms of energy, including alternatives, while reducing the industry’s environmental footprint.

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