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Pew meets with OMB on proposed Arctic offshore drilling rules
According to information on the website of the White House Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, on Oct. 8 representatives of Pew Charitable Trusts met with officials from OMB and the Department of the Interior to discuss standards for offshore oil drilling in the Arctic. The meeting came in conjunction with a review that OMB is conducting of new Arctic offshore drilling safety rules that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or BSEE, has been preparing, in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The OMB review forms part of the federal regulation development process, prior to BSEE releasing its new regulations for public comment.
As reported previously in Petroleum News, Shell met with OMB officials in September to express its views on potential Arctic drilling rules. Shell and other companies interested in exploring Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas are awaiting the publication of BSEE’s new regulations, to assess the impact of the regulations on the practicalities and economics of Arctic offshore exploration.
Pew proposed standards In September 2013 Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit organization that analyzes public policy, published its own recommendations for Arctic offshore safety standards for the oil industry. And it appears from documentation published on the OMB website that the Oct. 8 meeting involved a discussion of those proposed standards.
Pew says that, while it is not opposed to offshore drilling, it thinks that a balance must be achieved between responsible energy development and protection of the environment. World-leading standards need to be in place to ensure safety and to ensure effective oil spill prevention and response in Arctic environments, the organization says.
In its standards Pew argues for seasonal limits for drilling into hydrocarbon-bearing zones, with drilling only allowed at times of the year when a spill response is possible, with adequate time allowed for the drilling of a relief well from open water should a well blowout occur. Operators must use suitably equipped polar-class drilling rigs. And minimum standards for oil spill contingency arrangements must include oil slick trajectory models that allow for Arctic conditions, with sufficient and appropriate equipment available to clean up an entire spill.
For relief well drilling - the drilling of a secondary well to plug an out-of-control well with cement - the Pew standards would require a back-up drilling rig to be available within 24 to 48 hours. Other recommendations include the required use of Arctic well control experts during drilling operations, and specific equipment and training standards for mechanical oil recovery in the Arctic.
Shell critique When Shell met with OMB in September it argued for a less prescriptive and more performance-based approach to Arctic safety regulation, an approach that sets safety requirements without necessarily spelling out how those requirements are to be met. Regulatory enforcement would presumably involve verifying that a company has the ability and resources to satisfy the requirements.
Shell particularly criticized mandatory same-season relief well drilling, saying that there is no historical evidence of success in using this technique as an approach to stopping an oil spill. It appears that, instead, the company favors technologies such as well capping and containment systems as response tools. The company also questioned a requirement to have sufficient mechanical recovery equipment to recover all oil from a worst-case scenario spill. This requirement discounts the effectiveness of techniques such as in-situ burning and dispersant use, the company argued.
- Alan Bailey
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