After the Federal Register of Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement’s (BSEE) proposed revisions to the Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control Rule, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) welcomed the bureau’s advancing of safer offshore industry operations.
BSEE identified certain provisions that were impractical, and have required BSEE to repeatedly grant permission to utilize alternate procedures or equipment. The team also identified long term policies that could be incorporated into the regulations.
[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]
BSEE that only 59 of the 342 provisions of the 2016 Well Control Final Rule, were appropriate for proposed updating and revision.
The proposed revisions would change the testing protocol for blowout preventers, modify capability requirements for ROVs, remove duplicative verification requirements, and codify recent revisions to industry standards. Codification of a standard gives it the strength of an enforceable regulation.
IPAA Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Political Affairs Dan Naatz, said:
IPAA is pleased to see BSEE is taking a closer look at the technically-flawed Well Control Rule, which missed the mark on improving the safety of America’s offshore oil and gas operations. Offshore producers share the federal government’s goal of enhancing offshore safety and companies continue to work every day to make their operations as safe as possible.
