|
Salazar names ocean energy advisory committee members Interior’s Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee to provide guidance on offshore drilling safety, well containment, spill response Petroleum News
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement Director Michael R. Bromwich on March 11 named the members of the Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee.
The permanent advisory body consists of leading scientific, engineering and technical experts who will provide critical guidance on improving offshore drilling safety, well containment, and spill response.
Tom Hunter, former director of the Sandia National Laboratory, a member of the scientific team assembled to assist with the containment and capping of BP’s Macondo well, will lead the group as chairman.
“This Safety Committee will help us address some of the most significant issues that will arise as offshore drilling moves forward, said Secretary Salazar. “With Dr. Tom Hunter’s leadership, we have brought together some of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the country to help ensure that safety standards, well containment capabilities, and regulations never again fall behind drilling technology and practices.”
“The Safety Committee will play an important role in bringing to bear the expertise, ideas and experience of some of the most knowledgeable people in industry, academia and elsewhere on offshore drilling and safety issues,” said BOEMRE Director Bromwich. “It will play a central role in facilitating the exchange of information and ideas, the sharing of best practices and the development of expertise on issues related to offshore energy safety. It will also help us work through some of the more challenging issues we may face in the future, including drilling in frontier areas including the Arctic and ultra deepwater.”
Fifteen members The committee has 15 members representing federal agencies, the offshore oil and gas industry, academia, national labs and various research organizations.
Representing the offshore industry are: Charlie Williams, chief scientist for well engineering and production technology, Shell Oil Co.; Paul Siegele, president, Chevron’s Energy Technology Co.; Joseph Gebara, senior manager, structural engineer, Technip USA Inc.; and Don Jacobsen, senior vice president operations, Noble Drilling Services Inc.
Members representing the academic community and nongovernmental organizations are: Nancy Leveson, professor, system safety and process safety, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Richard Sears, senior science and engineering advisor and chief scientist, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling; Tad Patzek, professor and chairman, Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, University of Texas at Austin; and Lois Epstein, Arctic program director, The Wilderness Society.
Federal Government designees on the committee are: Walter Cruickshank, deputy director of BOEMRE; Christopher Smith, deputy assistant secretary for oil and natural gas in the Office of Fossil Energy, Department of Energy; Capt. Patrick Little, commanding officer, Marine Safety Center, U.S. Coast Guard; Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Environmental Protection Agency; David Westerholm, director, Office of Response and Restoration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and Steve Hickman, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
|
