Information: a valuable resource in managing health, safety, and the environment in the offshore petroleum industry

2013 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 493
Author(s):  
Nadia Ardalich
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Publishing Industry ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Government Accountability ◽  
The Public ◽  
Learning From Others ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) is charged with promoting occupational health and safety and responsible environmental management in the offshore petroleum industry and ensuring industry compliance with the relevant commonwealth legislation. For NOPSEMA to exercise these functions effectively and transparently, sharing information through industry experience is integral. Although NOPSEMA already publishes widely–including guidance material, industry performance data, and safety alerts–it is working towards increasing publication of more detailed and specific industry information, such as enforcement notices. Government regulators publishing industry information of this kind is not new in Australia or overseas and is often used by regulators as a tool for promoting industry compliance. Communicating and sharing information with industry and the public are important activities of governments. Information sharing can expand knowledge, enable innovation, enhance government accountability and transparency, and even save lives by learning from others' experiences. Recently, the Australian Government has shown a deeper commitment through changes to the Freedom of Information Act 1982, making government information more accessible and open to the public. This extended abstract discusses the benefits of increasing publication of industry information to promote NOPSEMA's functions and objectives for delivering a safe and environmentally responsible offshore petroleum industry.

Is Australia Prepared for the Decommissioning Challenge? A Regulator's Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Christensen ◽  
Andrew Re
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Regulatory Reform ◽  
Field Development ◽  
Independent Expert ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

Abstract The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) is Australia's independent expert regulator for health and safety, structural (well) integrity and environmental management for all offshore oil and gas operations and greenhouse gas storage activities in Australian waters, and in coastal waters where regulatory powers and functions have been conferred. The Australian offshore petroleum industry has been in operation since the early 1960s and currently has approximately 57 platforms, 11 floating facilities, 3,500km of pipelines and 1000 wells in operation. Many offshore facilities are now approaching the end of their operational lives and it is estimated that over the next 50 years decommissioning of this infrastructure will cost more than US$40.5 billion. Decommissioning is a normal and inevitable stage in the lifetime of an offshore petroleum project that should be planned from the outset and matured throughout the life of operations. While only a few facilities have been decommissioned in Australian waters, most of Australia's offshore infrastructure is now more than 20 years old and entering a phase where they require extra attention and close maintenance prior to decommissioning. When the NOGA group of companies entered liquidation in 2020 and the Australian Government took control of decommissioning the Laminaria and Corallina field development it became evident that there were some fundamental gaps in relation to decommissioning in the Australian offshore petroleum industry. There are two key focus areas that require attention. Firstly, regulatory reform including policy change and modification to regulatory practice. Secondly, the development of visible and robust decommissioning plans by Industry titleholders. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance and benefit of adopting good practice when planning for decommissioning throughout the life cycle of a petroleum project. Whilst not insurmountable, the closing of these gaps will ensure that Australia is well placed to deal with the decommissioning challenge facing the industry in the next 50 years.

Eisenhower’s executive privilege and the public interest

2019 ◽  
pp. 54-84
Author(s):  
Kevin M. Baron
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Attorney General ◽  
Executive Branch ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Executive Orders ◽  
White House ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Creation

This chapter delves into the depths of one of the most important developments within modern American politics, the creation and institutionalization of executive privilege. In facing a fervent Congress in the grips of McCarthyism, Eisenhower issued a letter denying testimony to the Senate for the Army-McCarthy hearings. His letter included a memo from Attorney General Brownell that claimed the president had an inherent constitutional privilege to deny information to Congress or the public if it was in the public interest and for national security. This action institutionalized the Cold War Paradigm in the executive branch and created an extra-constitutional power for the president. Eisenhower issued several executive orders concerning classification and public dissemination of government information, along with the creation of the Office of Strategic Information (OSI) within the Commerce Department to oversee these policies. Eisenhower claimed historic precedent to justify his inherent constitutional power, regardless, it showed a learned response that changed executive power. Congress would respond in 1955 by creating the Special Subcommittee on Government Information chaired by Rep. John Moss, given jurisdiction for oversight on all executive branch information policies and practices. With the issue of freedom of information institutionalized in Congress, a 12-year legislative power struggle would unfold between Congress and the White House ending with the passage of the Freedom of Information Act in 1966.

scholarly journals Proper Use of Technical Standards in Offshore Petroleum Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Brkić ◽  
Pavel Praks
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
European Economic Area ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Technical Standards ◽  
The North ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

Ships for drilling need to operate in the territorial waters of many different countries which can have different technical standards and procedures. For example, the European Union and European Economic Area EU/EEA product safety directives exclude from their scope drilling ships and related equipment onboard. On the other hand, the EU/EEA offshore safety directive requires the application of all the best technical standards that are used worldwide in the oil and gas industry. Consequently, it is not easy to select the most appropriate technical standards that increase the overall level of safety and environmental protection whilst avoiding the costs of additional certifications. We will show how some technical standards and procedures, which are recognized worldwide by the petroleum industry, can be accepted by various standardization bodies, and how they can fulfil the essential health and safety requirements of certain directives. Emphasis will be placed on the prevention of fire and explosion, on the safe use of equipment under pressure, and on the protection of personnel who work with machinery. Additionally considered is how the proper use of adequate procedures available at the time would have prevented three large scale offshore petroleum accidents: the Macondo Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010; the Montara in the Timor Sea in 2009; the Piper Alpha in the North Sea in 1988.

PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION- WHAT ARE THE ENVIRONMENTAL OBLIGATIONS OF JOINT VENTURE PARTICIPANTS?

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 738
Author(s):  
J. H. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Joint Venture ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Management Activity ◽  
Insurance Cover ◽  
Day To Day Operations

Participants in joint venture operating agreements in Australia are potentially liable for environmental offences under State environmental statutes as well as Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Acts and State Petroleum Acts. In addition, adverse environmental impacts can affect an array of other commercial factors, including the future costs of obtaining finance, insurance cover and access to new acreage.The nature of potential risks and liabilities are such that environmental management must be regarded as an on-going risk management activity, integrated into all planning and day-to-day operations in the same way that health and safety management is now being widely incorporated in petroleum industry activities. Joint venture participants generally pay considerable attention to the calibre of the technical (geological and engineering) advice provided by the operator. It follows that they should also place considerable importance on the calibre of environmental management expertise provided by the operator and its contractors.A successful system of management should be modelled on a due diligence defence, which requires that those who are directing joint venture activities exercise due diligence, requiring the establishment of a proper system to prevent violations of the law and the effective operation of that system, including supervision, maintenance and improvements in business methods.

Reducing the complexity of environmental approvals: learnings from an industry-wide collaborative effort

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 719
Author(s):  
Matthew Smith
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Collaborative Effort ◽  
Reference Case ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Intractable Problems ◽  
Intractable Problem ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

This extended abstract uses the reference case project, initiated by National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, now led by National Energy Resources Australia, to delve into the underlying issues in the environmental approvals process and propose the root causes that have influenced this flagship collaborative effort. Collaboration for competitors is inherently difficult. The basis for meaningful collaboration is to find intractable problems that are better solved by a collection of participants with a common purpose. The environmental approvals process has evolved into an intractable problem that is adversely affecting the oil and gas industry’s ability to explore by becoming a barrier to investment and a source of uncertainty in project execution. Successive Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association conferences, and oil and gas industry leaders, have frequently promoted the collaboration imperative to the industry. Indeed, there is broad agreement, and many international examples on matters of health, safety and environmental management, that there is no value in competition. Why then is meaningful collaboration so difficult to deliver in an environmental management setting in Australia? This paper explores the successes and failures of the reference case project to illuminate the realities of collaboration in the Australian offshore petroleum industry. The paper shares insights from project leads, participants, decision makers and stakeholders and covers how collaboration can unlock barriers to investment and deliver greater certainty to the oil and gas industry and the Australian community.

Expanding Privacy Rationales under the Federal Freedom of Information Act

2011 ◽  
pp. 42-56
Author(s):  
Charles N. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Information Flow ◽  
Federal Courts ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Privacy Rights ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post September 11 ◽  
The One

Access to government information in a post-September 11 often involves the resolution of conflicts between privacy rights and the public interest inherent in information flow. On the one hand, information about any individual investigated by the government, or merely landing in an investigative file, might very well invade the privacy of the detainees by unduly stigmatizing them. In fact, such reasoning reflects a line of argumentation central to the federal government’s justification for denial of access: privacy interests, particularly the risk of stigmatization. This chapter reviews the origins and expansion of stigmatization as grounds for protection of information under the FOIA. Examination of several key post-Reporters Committee cases decided by the federal courts illustrates the scope of the problem, as stigmatization has gained a great deal of legal traction in recent years.

SMOOTHING THE PATH—CHANGES TO COMMONWEALTH OFFSHORE PETROLEUM LEGISLATION

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 403
Author(s):  
B. Pegler ◽  
J. Lautenbach ◽  
L. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Major Step ◽  
Statutory Authority ◽  
Petroleum Resources ◽  
The Government ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

The last few years have seen a range of important changes to the Commonwealth legislation governing offshore petroleum resources. Not the least of these has been the passing of the new Offshore Petroleum Act 2006 (OPA), which will replace the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act 1967 (PSLA), and the recent ratification of the Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) and the Greater Sunrise International Unitisation Agreement.The PSLA has been the primary legislation for the administration of Australia’s offshore petroleum resources for close to 40 years and, through age and many amendments, it has become complex and unwieldy. The Government saw the need to rewrite the Act to provide a more user-friendly enactment that would reduce compliance costs for governments and industry. The rewrite, passed as the Offshore Petroleum Act 2006, focussed on restructuring the Act, deleting outdated text, rewriting specific sections and generally improving its readability rather than rewriting the entire Act in plain English or changing present regulatory arrangements.The OPA was passed through the Commonwealth Parliament in 2006 and has been passed as mirror legislation to cover offshore waters by the majority of States and the Northern Territory. It will be proclaimed to cover Commonwealth waters once it has been mirrored by the States. The Australian Government will continue to press the remaining States to enact the OPA and it is hoped this process can be finalised later this year.Another major step forward has been the setting up of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA). NOPSA is the centralised Australian Government statutory authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of occupational health and safety legislation in the offshore petroleum industry. It has this role for offshore petroleum activities both in Commonwealth waters and in State and Northern Territory offshore waters. The Safety Authority commenced its regulatory operations on 1 January 2005. It has its headquarters in Perth and an office in Melbourne.

Dashed Expectations: Governmental Adaptation to Transparency Rules

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alasdair Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Political Life ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Government Information ◽  
Fundamental Change ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
The Public ◽  
Governmental Secrecy ◽  
Lord Chancellor ◽  
Blair Government ◽  
The Way

In January 2005, the United Kingdom's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) came into force, providing British citizens with a limited but justiciable right to government information. The Blair government promised that the new law would make two important contributions to British political life. The first would be a fundamental change in the predispositions of officials regarding the release of government information. Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer predicted that the FOIA would lead to ‘a new culture of openness: a change in the way we are governed’. This fundamental ‘change in the way we are governed’ was expected to produce a follow-on effect: the restoration of public trust in government. The linkage between a ‘vigorous commitment to freedom of information’ and the ‘renewal of trust’ was often made in the months before implementation of the law. The critical point is that the FOIA does not reduce the political salience of complaints about governmental secrecy and lack of transparency in the public sector.

Finding Fault with the Nexus Pipeline? Agency Capture and the Public Good

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Kear
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Environmental Impact Statement ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fracturing Process ◽  
Natural Gas Industry ◽  
Regulatory Commission

Natural gas is an increasingly vital U.S. energy source that is presently being tapped and transported across state and international boundaries. Controversy engulfs natural gas, from the hydraulic fracturing process used to liberate it from massive, gas-laden Appalachian shale deposits, to the permitting and construction of new interstate pipelines bringing it to markets. This case explores the controversy flowing from the proposed 256-mile-long interstate Nexus pipeline transecting northern Ohio, southeastern Michigan and terminating at the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. As the lead agency regulating and permitting interstate pipelines, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also tasked with mitigating environmental risks through the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act's Environmental Impact Statement process. Pipeline opponents assert that a captured federal agency ignores public and scientific input, inadequately addresses public health and safety risks, preempts local control, and wields eminent domain powers at the expense of landowners, cities, and everyone in the pipeline path. Proponents counter that pipelines are the safest means of transporting domestically abundant, cleaner burning, affordable gas to markets that will boost local and regional economies and serve the public good. Debates over what constitutes the public good are only one set in a long list of contentious issues including pipeline safety, proposed routes, property rights, public voice, and questions over the scientific and democratic validity of the Environmental Impact Statement process. The Nexus pipeline provides a sobering example that simple energy policy solutions and compromise are elusive—effectively fueling greater conflict as the natural gas industry booms.

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