Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Safety Awards are more important than ever

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I am honored to be serving as one of the judges for this year’s Safety in Seas Award. As it has been every year since 1978, this prestigious award will be presented at NOIA’s Annual Meeting in April. To the best of my knowledge, Safety in Seas is the oldest safety award program for offshore oil and gas operations. This year’s nominations are very impressive. Congratulations to the participating companies and individuals!

I have had the pleasure of participating in other offshore safety awards programs including the Carolita Kallaur Awards and the MMS Safety Awards For Excellence (SAFE). Unfortunately, the latter program appears to have been suspended or terminated, presumably as a result of last year’s blowout.  That is unfortunate. The SAFE program was initiated in 1983, and District and National awards had been presented each year. The winners took great pride in their safety achievements. As many as 800 people packed the annual awards event in Houston to recognize the winners, promote safety achievement, and draw attention to safety issues.

Past achievements don’t guarantee future success in any endeavor, be it sports, the arts, business, or even politics. However, we don’t stop recognizing champions because they might fail in the future, we don’t stop presenting Academy Awards because future movies might be disappointing, and we don’t stop holding elections even though we never seem to get it right.

It’s been a tough five years for the US offshore industry – recovering from a series of major hurricanes and an unprecedented drilling blowout. Investigations continue and changes are necessarily being made. During these challenging times, positive recognition is more important than ever.  We must learn from successes as well as failures, and reinforce outstanding offshore safety leadership. I look forward to the presentation of the Safety in Seas Award and hope that SAFE program will resume in the near future, either under the direction of the Federal government or separately.

British-Borneo USA, Inc.

DOI Asst. Secretary Sylvia Baca and MMS Associate Director Carolita Kallaur present 2000 SAFE Award (moderate activity category) to British Borneo USA

Read Full Post »

Interesting Workshop in Washington DC

Posted in Uncategorized on March 16, 2011| Leave a Comment »

How Organizations Think About the Unthinkable: A Risk Management Workshop about Avoiding, Managing and Mitigating Crises

Click for the agenda and details.  No registration charge!

Read Full Post »

Daylight Savings Time and Energy Policy

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on March 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

A wise old Indian said:

Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.

The fact that Daylight Savings Time is one of our more noteworthy energy policy achievements speaks volumes about our current economic predicament.

 

Read Full Post »

While we were gone

Posted in accidents, cuba, drilling, energy, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The tragedy in Japan has added yet more uncertainty to nervous energy markets:
Japan will likely need more imported oil and natural gas due to closures of nuclear reactors caused by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami, but volumes can’t be calculated accurately as it is unclear how much industrial output has been affected by the disaster and how long power nuclear and thermal power plants will remain closed. Wall Street Journal
It’s much too early to gauge how the nuclear power industry, which some have touted as a model for safety achievement, will be affected.
    Standards news and discussion:
    Offshore Safety Institute?
    The CEOs of major oil and gascompanies will meet March 18 to decide how to proceed with the formation of a US offshore drilling safety institute, William Reilly, the co-chair of the National Oil Spill Commission, said March 8. Platts Oilgram News
    New twist in Cuban drilling drama – Petrobras relinquishes interest
    Marco Aurelio Garcia, foreign policy adviser to President Dilma Rousseff, told reporters in Havana exploratory work off Cuba’s northern coast had not shown good results and that Brazil wanted to concentrate on its own oil fields.
    Since BP’s disastrous Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico last April, the risks of offshore oil drilling have been a hot topic. One place it isn’t questioned much is Brazil, whose oil production industry is one of the fastest-growing in the world because of vast new deepwater oil reservoirs discovered in the past five years.
    Mexican Deepwater Update (Platts Oilgram News)
    Pemex has just begun to explore in Mexico’s Gulf of Mexico waters deeper than 1,000 feet, but 28 billion undiscovered barrels of oilequivalent are thought to exist in that area, some of which borders US territorial waters. Pemex officials said the company is forging a development plan for its first deepwater field, Lakach, located northeast of the state of Veracruz in about 3,200 feet of water. First production is expected in 2015.
    Environmentalists are furious at a proposal by the petroleum company Shell to start exploration drilling off one of Western Australia’s most treasured reefs. Ningaloo Reef off the north-west coast, has been nominated for World Heritage listing.

Read Full Post »

Be back in a week!

Posted in Uncategorized on March 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

BOE staffer departs for special assignment

This week, our staff will be fully immersed in special projects, and will not be able to post on the blog. All BOE subscriptions will be extended by a week at no cost to our subscribers. 🙂

While we are gone, we encourage you to read the “Best of BOE” (best being a relative term :))

Read Full Post »

Noteworthy Macondo finding that has received little attention

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 3, 2011| 2 Comments »

In recent years various bodies have concluded that certain MMS offices and programs have violated ethical rules or guidelines. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, some questioned whether ethical lapses played any role in causing the blowout. The Chief Counsel‘s team found no evidence of any such lapses.

National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Chief Counsel’s Report, page 261

Read Full Post »

International Cooperation on Mooring Issues?

Posted in Uncategorized on March 2, 2011| Leave a Comment »

From PSA’s recent Safety Forum:

Over the last few years, there have been a great number of incidents in the industry related to loss of position, including dynamic positioning. A project has been started under the direction of the rig industry and the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association in order to reduce the number of serious anchoring incidents on the Norwegian shelf.

The project, which is being led by an Anchoring forum, has an ambition of a 75 percent reduction in serious anchoring incidents on the Norwegian shelf by 2010, compared with 2006. A status report will be given regarding goal achievement at the next Safety Forum meeting.

Given the US experience with hurricane mooring issues, the recent Gryphon Alpha incident, and other station keeping failures around the world, this is an excellent opportunity for international cooperation.

Read Full Post »

Charlie Sheen offered position with BOE.

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , on March 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Charlie Sheen, currently unemployed, is being recruited to direct BOE’s Not My Job Awards program.

Charlie has repeatedly demonstrated habits and personality traits that make him uniquely qualified to serve as our Not My Job Awards program director. He is a hero to Not My Jobbers worldwide and would elevate that program to the next level. BOE Management

Read Full Post »

Hearings of interest

Posted in drilling, Offshore Energy - General, Uncategorized, tagged , on March 1, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Secretary Salazar will appear before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday (2 March) at 10:00 am ET and the House Natural Resources on Thursday (3 March) at 10:00 am ET. Expect deepwater drilling and other offshore energy questions.  Both hearings will be streamed live at the respective websites.

Read Full Post »

First post-Macondo Deepwater Permit Approved

Posted in Uncategorized on February 28, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today approved the first deepwater drilling permit since the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill. Noble Energy’s application for a permit to bypass is for Well #2 in Mississippi Canyon Block 519, approximately 70 miles south east of Venice, La.

Many thanks to Gary Gentile, Platts, for bringing this to our attention.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »