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Texas A&M center to manage institute
The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, or BSEE, announced Nov. 7 that it has selected the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center to manage the Ocean Energy Safety Institute. The Engineering Experimental Station is partnering with Texas A&M University, the University of Texas and the University of Houston in this task, BSEE said.
“I look forward to working closely with our partners at the institute on finding ways to improve safety offshore,” said BSEE Director Brian Salerno. “The institute will develop a program of research, technical assistance, and education that serves as a center of expertise in offshore oil and gas exploration, development, and production technology, including frontier areas, such as high temperature/high pressure reservoirs, deepwater, and Arctic exploration and development.”
“The three partner universities represent a unique combination of capabilities and resources needed to address the needs for the institute,” said Dr. M. Sam Mannan, chemical engineering professor in the Engineering Experiment Station. “We applaud BSEE for supporting this major undertaking of national importance that will impact ocean energy safety for the nation and world for years to come.”
Services to BSEE BSEE had announced in May that it was going to establish the safety institute as an independent body for research and shared learning for offshore energy exploration and development. The institute stems from a recommendation by the Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee, a federal advisory group.
The safety institute will provide services to BSEE, including technical assistance with emerging technologies; the development and maintenance of an equipment failure monitoring system; and training for federal employees on state-of-the-art technologies, BSEE said. The institute will also promote collaboration among federal agencies, industry, standards organizations, academia and the National Academy of Sciences, while also holding forums for the dissemination of information and best practices, the agency said.
—Alan Bailey
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