There exists in the US an organisation named the Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI), about which little appears to be known here in the UK; nor do we have anything that can be regarded as its equivalent.
Launched in 2013, it basically grew out of the Macondo disaster of April 20 2010, which exposed massive weaknesses in the American approach to offshore safety.
While OESI was in essence born of a disaster, just as the now extinct Offshore Safety Division of the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and safety-case-based North Sea safety case regime grew out of Piper Alpha (July 6 1968), they are not analogues.
Crucially, OESI is not a regulator whereas the HSE is.
Wind the clock forward to today and the North Sea Transition Authority; that too is a regulator.
OESI stemmed from a recommendation by the US Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee (OESC) which had been set up by the US Department of the Interior post Macondo.
It was conceived as a consortium involving industry, national labs, non-governmental organisations, and academia with a mission to advance the technology and workforce for safer, more sustainable, and cost-effective energy production.
It is a product of the Obama Administration era and was launched in November 2013 having started out focused on oil and gas, but has since evolved to take in offshore renewables, notably wind but also various forms of marine energy as/if they achieve commercial viability.
Moreover, it was given a boost under the Biden Administration by being brought under the wing of the influential Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, providing both support and ongoing operation and maintenance service.
The Department of Interior’s then-principal deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management, Laura Daniel-Davis, said: “The OESI will support critical improvements for all offshore energy activities, including renewable and traditional energy, as well as support new offshore energy technology development.”
Overall, OESI comes under the umbrella of the US Department of Interior’s (DOI’s) Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).
Its job description goes something like this: OESI is supposed to operate independently to collaborate research for technology advancement and continuing education to support operational improvements and advanced academic programmes directly relevant to maritime energy.
It does this through promoting dialogue and forums revealing technology gaps through stakeholder engagement and collaborative communications to support the advancement of worldwide ocean energy safety through industry-prioritized, science-based research.
OESI develops strategic relationships with academia, the oil and gas and renewables sectors, regulators and NGOs to increase worker safety and environmental protection.
That means it’s not in anybody’s pocket and has been allowed to get on with its job.
We don’t have that in the UK.
How we in the UK address HSE in the offshore context is disjointed and inconsistent.
There is no OESI lookalike and I find that disappointing.
If the UK did, worker safety and environmental protection might be in a better place than is currently the case.
In fairness, and despite many shortcomings, the UK offshore oil & gas industry has benefitted from relatively strong leadership and a collective willingness to tackle and find solutions to address critical issues.
Disappointingly, I don’t detect this with UK offshore wind and have commented on that in the past.
Recent research has come up with safety record findings that do that industry no credit whatsoever.
EV reported on June 13 last year that safety incidents in the global offshore wind sector nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023.
A study by global offshore wind health and safety organisation G+ recorded 1,679 incidents worldwide in 2023, up from the 867 recorded in 2022. This represented a 94% increase.
In the UK, there were 502 recorded incidents in 2023, up from 348 the year before.
A study conducted at the University of Strathclyde found that the offshore wind sector has an injury rate four times higher than offshore oil and gas.
American offshore wind is still in its infancy, unlike the approaching maturity in the North Sea.
But in line with its evolved mission, the OESI is already on the case.
Its latest (and current) ‘request for proposals’ or RFP is inviting research aimed at enhancing offshore energy safety protocols, technology innovations, and risk management strategies.
The first priority is small-scale marine energy solutions designed to boost the safety and sustainability of offshore wind and oil and gas operations.
The second focuses on utility-scale marine energy technologies, leveraging lessons from wind and oil and gas sectors to enhance the security and sustainability of marine operations.
Wind energy research will centre on safe installation, operation, and decommissioning while minimizing human exposure to hazards.
Oil and gas is not left out. The focus is on improving well-control events, early detection for containment loss, and maintaining infrastructure integrity in aging fields.
The institute expects to issue 30 to 40 research funding awards about now, each worth up to $500,000, with recipients required to provide at least 20% in cost-sharing.
Will the OESI survive the Trump and Musk purge? Who knows.
Sadly had the UK set up a mirror, I fear it would have been broken long ago.
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