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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
April 2014

Vol. 19, No. 15 Week of April 13, 2014

BSEE to publish Arctic OCS rule soon

Brian Salerno, director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or BSEE, said in an April 8 note on his agency’s website that BSEE will soon issue for public comment a new Arctic drilling rule that BSEE has been developing jointly with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

“The Arctic is a pristine and austere environment which poses unique challenges for energy exploration and production,” Salerno said. “The potential energy reserves in the Arctic are compelling; and several companies have made substantial investments in their bid to develop these resources. At the same time, preservation of the Arctic environment is also essential to Native communities’ cultural and subsistence needs, and for the overall health of a fragile ecosystem.”

The new rule, a set of Arctic-specific regulations for oil drilling on the outer continental shelf, stems from a recommendation made in 2012 by a safety advisory committee established in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. In July 2013 Mark Fesmire, BSEE’s Alaska regional director, said that the rule would take account of some issues unique to drilling in the Arctic offshore, such as the need to secure a well at the end of an open-water drilling season, and the need to avoid conflicts with subsistence hunting.

Salerno said that, in addition to preparing the new rule, BSEE has been developing relationships with other regulators through the agency’s involvement in working groups under the Arctic Council, and through the agency’s leading role in Arctic initiatives under the U.S. National Ocean Policy.

A key focus for BSEE has been the need for oil source control and containment systems for Arctic offshore drilling, to prevent or minimize oil releases during emergencies, Salerno said. This approach, different from past ways of addressing risks associated with oil and gas development, is consistent with lessons learned from Deepwater Horizon, he said.

“Most importantly, our goal is to ensure that operators have taken the necessary steps to ensure that drilling operations performed in the Arctic are done safely,” Salerno said. “This includes proper internal controls and planning, two areas that were highlighted in both the Department of the Interior’s and U.S. Coast Guard's reports on Shell's operations in Alaska.”

—Alan Bailey






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