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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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BEST AVAILABLE AND SAFEST
TECHNOLOGIES FOR OFFSHORE
OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS

OPTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Committee on Options for Implementing the
Requirement of Best Available and Safest
Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations

Marine Board

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING AND
                     NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
                                                 OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.

www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS   500 Fifth Street, NW   Washington, DC 20001

 

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This project was supported by Contract No. E12PC00062 between the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Department of the Interior. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the organizations or agencies that provided support for this project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-29427-0
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-29427-4

Additional copies of this report are available for sale from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu/.

Copyright 2013 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine

 

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.

The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.

 

www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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COMMITTEE ON OPTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE REQUIREMENT OF BEST AVAILABLE AND SAFEST TECHNOLOGIES FOR OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS

Members

 

DONALD C. WINTER (Chair), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

PAUL M. BOMMER, University of Texas at Austin

ROBERT BRENNER, Duke University, Washington, D.C.

ANTHONY P. CIAVARELLI, Human Factors Associates, Inc., Lake Oswego, Oregon

LOUIS ANTHONY (TONY) COX, JR., Cox Associates, LLC, Denver, Colorado

JAMES S. DYER, University of Texas at Austin

THOMAS R. KITSOS, Ocean Policy Consultant, Bethesda, Maryland

DONALD LIU, Independent Consultant, Willis, Texas

ROGER L. MCCARTHY, McCarthy Engineering, Palo Alto, California

CHARLES E. MCQUEARY, Independent Consultant, Greensboro, North Carolina

RICHARD A. SEARS, Stanford University, Stanford, California

GORDON H. STERLING, Independent Consultant, The Woodlands, Texas

MANUEL TERRANOVA, Peaxy, Inc., San Jose, California

Staff

 

RAYMOND A. WASSEL, Project Director

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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MARINE BOARD

THOMAS M. LESCHINE, University of Washington, Seattle (Chair)

JAMES C. CARD (Vice Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, retired), Maritime Consultant, Houston, Texas (Vice Chair)

STEVEN R. BARNUM, Hydrographic Consultation Services, Suffolk, Virginia

MARY R. BROOKS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

STEPHEN M. CARMEL, Maersk Line Limited, Norfolk, Virginia

EDWARD N. COMSTOCK, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Sudbury, Massachusetts

ELMER P. (BUD) DANENBERGER III, Consultant, Reston, Virginia

JEANNE M. GRASSO, Blank Rome LLP, Washington, D.C.

STEPHAN T. GRILLI, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett

DOUGLAS J. GRUBBS, Crescent River Port Pilots Association, Metairie, Louisiana

JOHN M. HOLMES, Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California

DONALD LIU, NAE, Marine Consultant, Willis, Texas

RICHARD S. MERCIER, Texas A&M University, College Station

EDMOND J. MORAN, JR., Moran Towing Corporation, New Canaan, Connecticut

ALI MOSLEH, University of Maryland, College Park

GEORGE BERRYMAN NEWTON, JR., Consultant, Marstons Mills, Massachusetts

KARLENE H. ROBERTS, University of California, Berkeley (Emerita)

PETER K. VELEZ, Peter Velez Engineering, LLC, Houston, Texas

JOHN WILLIAM WAGGONER, Hornblower Marine Services, New Albany, Indiana

TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD 2013 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OFFICERS

DEBORAH H. BUTLER, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk, Virginia (Chair)

KIRK T. STEUDLE, Michigan Department of Transportation, Lansing (Vice Chair)

SUSAN HANSON, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts (Division Chair for NRC Oversight)

ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR., Transportation Research Board (Executive Director)

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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Preface

Section 21(b) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA)1 mandates that the Secretary of the Interior2

shall require, on all new drilling and production operations and, wherever practicable, on existing operations, the use of the best available and safest technologies which the Secretary determines to be economically feasible, wherever failure of equipment would have a significant effect on safety, health, or the environment, except where the Secretary determines that the incremental benefits are clearly insufficient to justify the incremental costs of utilizing such technologies.

In the aftermath of the Macondo well blowout and Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010, various analyses of the causes of the incident (for example, NAE and NRC 2012) identified the need for government agencies to incorporate more sophisticated approaches for assessing and managing risks associated with offshore activities. Accordingly, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE)3 considered ways of enhancing the approach it uses in implementing the best available and safest technologies (BAST) mandate. The director of BSEE asked the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the National Research Council (NRC) to form a committee that would provide a range of options for improving the implementation of BAST. The committee was also asked to review options and issues that BSEE is already considering. However, the committee was not asked either to recommend a specific BAST implementation approach or to

________________

1Public Law 95-372, as amended on September 18, 1978.

2The mandate is also directed to the secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating.

3On October 1, 2011, BSEE became the federal entity within the U.S. Department of the Interior responsible for safety and environmental oversight of internal processes of offshore oil and gas operations.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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carry out an in-depth evaluation of BSEE’s past BAST approach. (The committee’s statement of task is provided in Appendix A.)4 In response, NAE and NRC assembled a committee of 13 members providing expertise in petroleum engineering, marine systems, system safety, risk analysis, testing and evaluation of new technologies, and human factors. In addition, the committee provided experience in regulatory and corporate decision making concerning the identification, development, and deployment of advanced technologies (see Study Committee Biographical Information at the end of this document). The diverse background of the committee membership proved to be valuable, as the committee had to rely heavily on its collective judgment and experience in providing its recommendations in this report.

In accordance with its task statement, the committee did not recommend a specific BAST implementation approach. In accordance with its best judgment, the committee took an integrated approach in recommending actions to enhance BSEE’s fundamental capabilities for supporting any of the identified options. On the basis of conversations with the sponsor at its first meeting, the committee considered the specific options listed in its statement of task to be illustrative of the complexity of BAST implementation and not to define the set of topics to be considered in its report. Therefore, the committee used its discretion within the parameters of its scope of work to focus on the set of options to be discussed fully and analyzed within its report. The committee principally focused on developing options with regard to BSEE’s plans for an independent Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI), which would provide technical support for BAST implementation. General plans for OESI were outlined by BSEE officials at the committee’s first meeting.

As part of its information-gathering activities, the committee held three public sessions in 2013 to receive presentations from BSEE; other federal agencies involved in BAST-type approaches; and industry associations, individual companies, and other organizations involved in offshore drilling and production operations. On March 11, the committee heard from Michael Else and Joseph Levine (BSEE), Kevin Culligan (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Holly Hopkins (American Petroleum Institute), Alan Spackman (International Association of Drilling Contractors), and Thomas Moroney (Shell). On May 13, the committee heard from Homayoon Dezfuli (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Lirio Liu (Federal Aviation Administration), James Simons (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), and Brian Sheron (U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission). On May 30, the committee heard from Fred Florence (National Oilwell Varco), John Hensley (Petrobras), Robert Judge (GE Oil and Gas), Rod Larson

________________

4The committee issued a letter on April 15, 2013, which commented on BSEE’s preliminary plans for implementing the BAST requirement, as presented to the committee on March 11, 2013.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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(Oceaneering International), Roald (Ro) Lokken (ExxonMobil), Richard Mercier (Offshore Technology Research Center), Keith Seilhan (Stone Energy), Mel Whitby (Cameron Drilling Systems), and Charlie Williams (Center for Offshore Safety).

Donald C. Winter, Chair Committee on Options for Implementing the Requirement of Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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Acknowledgments

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise in accordance with procedures approved by NRC’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this report: R. Lyndon Arscott, International Association of Oil and Gas Producers; Benton F. Baugh, Radoil, Inc.; Michael R. Bromwich, The Bromwich Group; Patricia M. Jones, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign; Alexander MacLachlan (DuPont, retired); Keith Seilhan, Stone Energy; Allen Verret, Offshore Operators Committee; and David Wisch, Chevron Energy Technology Company.

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Robert A. Frosch (NAE), Harvard University, and Susan Hanson (NAS), Clark University. Appointed by NRC, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

Raymond Wassel managed the study under the guidance of the committee and the supervision of Stephen Godwin, Director, Studies and Special Programs, Transportation Research Board (TRB). Norman Solomon edited the report; Radiah Rose prepared the prepublication manuscript, under the supervision of Javy Awan, Director of Publications, TRB. Ricardo Payne and Timothy Devlin arranged meetings and provided logistical communications to the committee.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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Abbreviations

ALARP as low as reasonably practicable
API American Petroleum Institute
ASRS Aviation Safety Reporting System
BAST best available and safest technologies
BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
BOP blowout preventer
BSEE Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement
DOI U.S. Department of the Interior
E&P exploration and production
FAA Federal Aviation Administration
FFRDC federally funded research and development center
GOM Gulf of Mexico
HFE human factors engineering
HSE health, safety, and environment
IP intellectual property
JIP joint industry project
NAE National Academy of Engineering
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NRC National Research Council
NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology
NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
OCS outer continental shelf
OCSLA Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
OESI Ocean Energy Safety Institute
OGP International Association of Oil and Gas Producers
R&D research and development
SEMS Safety and Environmental Management Systems
SINTEF Stiftelsen for Industriell og Teknisk Forskning
TA&R Technology Assessment and Research
UARC university-affiliated research center
USCG United States Coast Guard
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council. 2013. Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18545.
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Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation explores a range of options for improving the implementation of the U.S. Department of the Interior's congressional mandate to require the use of best available and safety technologies in offshore oil and gas operations.

In the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Congress directs the Secretary of the Interior to regulate oil and gas operations in federal waters. The act mandates that the Secretary "shall require, on all new drilling and production operations and, wherever practicable, on existing operations, the use of the best available and safest technologies which the Secretary determines to be economically feasible, wherever failure of equipment would have a significant effect on safety, health, or the environment, except where the Secretary determines that the incremental benefits are clearly insufficient to justify the incremental costs of utilizing such technologies."

This report, which was requested by Department of the Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), also reviews options and issues that BSEE is already considering to improve implementation of the best available and safest technologies requirement.

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