A senior oil and gas figure said yesterday that the UK industry must not rest on its laurels, despite a good track record for safety.
Robin Davies was keynote speaker at an Oil and Gas UK and Subsea UK seminar in the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre focused on securing a safe and sustainable future for the subsea industry.
Mr Davies is global vice-president for business improvement at Subsea 7 and joint chairman of OGUK.
He told delegates: “This keynote speech cannot pass without a direct reference to the recent tragic Deepwater Horizon drilling rig incident in the Gulf of Mexico, where 11 lives were sadly lost, and where there has been very significant environmental impact.
“I have no doubt that BP and others involved with the incident will do whatever it takes to ensure the region recovers from the incident, but this has naturally raised questions about the safety regulations governing offshore drilling in the UK and the preparedness of our industry to respond to an oil spill.
“The industry recognises that this has been a major incident, and there will undoubtedly be lessons to be learned as an outcome of all the investigations currently under way.”
Mr Davies said it must not be forgotten that the UK oil and gas industry operated under a strong safety and environmental regime, adding: “It is widely seen as a global exemplar, being one of the toughest regulatory environments in the world.
“As Oil and Gas UK itself has recently reminded us, the UK has not experienced a blowout in over 20 years of operations, during which time almost 7,000 wells have been successfully drilled: over 400 of which have been deepwater off the west of Shetland.
“That said, even though the UK industry has a good track record, we must not rest on our laurels.
“The Gulf of Mexico incident must give us all pause for thought. The industry must challenge the robustness of its existing systems, procedures and intervention capabilities.
“In particular, we must maintain suitable resources and have a vigorous response plan in place on how we would manage such an incident in the UK, including the way in which cleanup costs and compensation would be financed.
“I would like to emphasise that this contingency planning and response capability is already in place, but we still need to review its adequacy in light of the Gulf of Mexico incident.
“To provide a focal point for the sector’s review of the industry’s practices in the UK and in advance of the conclusion of investigations into the Gulf of Mexico incident, the industry and government have welcomed Oil and Gas UK’s establishment of the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group, known as Osprag.”