Page 20: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Jun/Jul 2013)

19 21

already implemented.

The research shows that the industry, in general, favors a goal-setting regulatory

Quick stats regime, in which the regulator defnes

OE ’s at-a-glance guide to offshore hydrocarbon

Analysis the goals that have to be achieved and reserves and key offshore infrastructure globally is operators are free to decide how to achieve them. This type of regime is active in the North Sea, and was introduced to updated monthly using data from leading energy the UK’s oil and gas industry in reaction to the Piper Alpha analysts Infeld Systems (www.infeld.com).

incident. Of the respondents, 76% said that a goal-setting regulatory regime was most effective in improving safety

New discoveries Pipelines performance. There has typically been a more prescriptive (operational and 2013 onwards) announced approach taken in the US. (last

Depth (km) month) range 2010 2011 2012 2013

The danger with a prescriptive system is that an operator <8in

Shallow 92 103 72 11 is able to act within the letter of the regulations and then (<500m)

Operational/ (42,570) stop, having “fulflled” its duty. In the UK and many other 42,633

Deep 28 25 23 4 installed (500-1500m) regimes, in contrast, the onus is on the operator to think

Ultradeep Planned/ 30 20 34 8 (22,133) 23,170 (>1500m) through its own challenges and issues, and to demonstrate possible 150 148 129 23

Total (64,703) 65,803 that it has understood the risks and acted accordingly.

Note: Operators do not announce discovery

It is due, in part, to the goal-setting approach that UK regu- dates at the time of discovery, so totals for 8-16in previous years continue to change.

lation has worked since Piper Alpha. By placing the empha-

Operational/ (77,929) 77,886

Reserves in the sis on the operator to recognize and meet its ALARP goals, installed

Golden Triangle and with such a goal not being an absolute, the operator

Planned/ by water depth 2013-17 (47,240) 47,482 possible needs to constantly strive to reduce risk. Regulations remain

Water Field Liquid Gas (125,169) 125,368 depth numbers reserves reserves applicable even as oil and gas industry practices, technolo- (mmbbl) (bcf) gies, and operating environments evolve.

Brazil >16in

In the North Sea, for example, a number of changes have

Operational/ 25 3,236.75 1,680.00

Shallow (88,308) 88,353 installed occurred to the commercial arrangements under which plat-

Deep 16 3,257.00 2,555.00

Planned/ forms are operated, since the UK regulations were drafted. (47,362) 47,758 40 12,428,45 17,340.00

Ultradeep possible

Many platforms are operating beyond their original design (135,670) 136,111

United States life expectancies. New projects and tie-backs place new 21 96.45 1,253.50

Shallow demands on existing infrastructure. However, the largest

Production 26 1,898.71 2,124.87

Deep risks still relate to the integrity of assets and the shrinking systems worldwide 24 2,925.00 3,340.00

Ultradeep (operational and 2013 onwards) levels of production that are there to support them. The (last

Floaters goal-setting regime in the UK has been able to cope with

West Africa month) (272) 150 3,378.60 18,217.81 274

Shallow Operational these changes over the last 20 years, with only minor amend- (47) 47 5,574.00 6,420.00 46

Deep Under development ments, and this has helped the UK industry beneft from 16 2,540.00 3,000.00 315 (320) improved safety performance.

Ultradeep Planned/possible (639) 635

Total 365 35,334.96 54,631.18 (last month) (372) (37,966.37) (54,592.09)

Learning from goal-setting regimes

Fixed platforms

Unlike goal-based regulation, a prescriptive approach is not

Greenfeld reserves (9,876) 9,878

Operational able to evolve in with industry practices and is not able to 2013-17 148 141 ( )

Under development

Water Field Liquid Gas guard against future disasters. New technology that was not (1,438) 1,467 depth numbers reserves reserves

Planned/possible (mmbbl) (bcf) envisaged when the regulations were written could fail, with (11,455) 11,493 1,349 78,930.66 837,296.39

Shallow tragic results. This can make industry professionals question (last month) (1358) (79,677.08) (840,869.86)

Subsea wells the regime under which they are working and its ability to

Deep 171 14,524.58 87,046.57 (4,420) 4,426

Operational (last month) (172) (15,008.74) (87,092.48) guard against major disasters.

(387) 393

Under development

For this reason, many countries look to goal-setting 99 18,322.45 67,197.00

Ultradeep (last month) (104) (20,438.20) (65,907.00) (5,959) 5,981

Planned/possible regimes—such as those of Norway and the UK—when estab- (10,766) 10,800 1,619 111,777.69 991,539.96

Total lishing their own regulatory framework. GL Noble Denton is currently working with governments across Europe and the

Global offshore reserves (mmboe) onstream by water depth

Middle East to help create new goal-setting legislation for 2011 2012 201320142015 20162017 their oil and gas industries. 10,429.53 6,125.23 65,466.32 34,157.68 41,087.23 31,629.57 54,574.12

Shallow

In Ireland, we have been working with the Irish (last month) (10,431.06) (6,255.23) (68,939.80) (31,391.27) (41,138.09) (32,272.94) (54,548.99)

Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) to introduce new

Deep 1,316.732,533.96 3,652.02 5,830.40 3,968.34 5,424.56 10,996.57 upstream safety regulations that cover onshore and offshore (last month) (1,316.73) (2,533.96) (3,667.02) (5,825.60) (4,378.91) (5,422.71) (11,059.66) production. A team of safety and regulatory specialists 199.94 797.15 3,090.44 3,075.06 1,948.73 5,949.75 16,114.35

Ultradeep (last month) (199.94) (797.15) (3,180.44) (3,123.81) (2,432.20) (6,877.27) (16,452.93) has been working with the CER for a number of years to 11,946.21 9,396.34 72,208.78 43,063.14 47,004.30 43,003.88 81,685.04

Total review different regulatory approaches being used around 15 May 2013 the world, to identify the ones most suitable for the Irish

OE | June 2013 oedigital.com 22 006OE_0613Analysis_Qstats.indd 22 5/25/13 12:29 AM