DRILLBITS – June 2013
This Month’s Articles
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IADC welcomes European Parliament’s offshore safety directive
In a press release issued on 23 May, IADC praised the European Union’s authorization of a new directive on safety of offshore oil and gas activities.
The legislation, approved on 21 May, requires operators to submit emergency response plans and hazard reports before undertaking operations, along with evidence that liabilities can be handled.
“IADC worked with the OGP European Union committee on a task force for more than two years to examine successive drafts of this legislation,” said Brian Petty, IADC executive vice president, government and regulatory affairs. “Ultimately, our goal was to ensure that the legislation was framed as a directive, an important distinction that allows member states up to two years to implement it, with flexibility to conform with existing national laws. We believe this is a good outcome after years of hard work.”
“It is a challenging effort to achieve a standard and agreeable level of risk across the European Union with respect to offshore oil and gas activities,” said Alan Spackman, IADC vice president, offshore division. “As it is modeled on the safety case regimes in Northwest Europe, this new directive may prove challenging to other European Union members that have not previously adopted this approach. IADC will be working closely with these regulators across Europe toward consistent application of regulatory regimes at their national level.”
For more information, please contact Brian Petty at +1 202.293.0670 (brian.petty@iadc.org) or Alan Spackman at ext. 207 (alan.spackman@iadc.org).
IADC hires regional representatives for Europe and North Sea
In order to more fully represent its members globally, IADC has recently hired two new regional representatives to represent member interests in Europe and the North Sea.
John Boogaerdt is Regional Director-Europe, and will be based in The Netherlands. Mr Boogaerdt will provide support for IADC’s International Development efforts.
With more than 35 years of experience with Shell, OMV, Parker Drilling and Schlumberger Business Consulting, Mr Boogaerdt is a senior oil industry professional. His experience encompasses a wide range of E&P subjects with specific expertise in management of major oil and gas projects. In 2005 he became senior vice president of production at OMV. In 2009, he became Managing Director at Parker Drilling International. He served as wells committee manager at the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) in 2011.
He has worked and lived in the UK, Austria, Norway, Malaysia, Egypt, Oman, China, and the Netherlands.
Mr Boogaerdt can be reached via email at john.boogaerdt@iadc.org.
John Atkinson is Regional Director, North Sea and will be based in Aberdeen. With more than 40 years of experience in the industry, John will be responsible for advocating for IADC members in the North Sea area.
Mr Atkinson previously served as both vice chairman and chairman of the IADC Australasia Chapter and as vice chairman of the IADC North Sea Chapter. He began his career with Ben Line Group as a deck cadet, before joining Ben Odeco Limited as a dynamic positioning operator and master. He served as captain in command and assistant marine superintendent at Ben Line Steamers Limited and as marine superintendent at Ben Line Steamers Limited & Atlantic Drilling Limited. He joined Diamond Offshore Drilling UK Limited in 1992 as technical services and safety case manager. Over the course of the next 18 years he held various positions within Diamond, working in geographies across the world, including Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Scotland. He retired from Diamond in 2010 to pursue other interests.
Mr Atkinson can be reached via email at john.atkinson@iadc.org.
OGP Report No. 449 released
The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers recently released OGP Report No 449 – Environmental management in Arctic oil and gas operations: good practice guide.
The guide, which covers more than 30 million square kilometers of the Arctic, discusses challenges in the region and details the area’s legislative and governance regimes. The new guideline complements the 2009 Arctic offshore oil and gas guidelines of the Arctic Council.
Copies of the report are available for download at OGP’s website.
For more information, please contact Alan Spackman at ext. 207 (alan.spackman@iadc.org).
National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee seeks industry participation
At its 18 April meeting, the National Offshore Safety Advisory Committee (NOSAC) formed five new subcommittees to develop recommendations for presentation to the US Coast Guard.
NOSAC is currently seeking representatives from the offshore oil and gas industry, along with interested members of the general public, to participate in the work of the subcommittees. They include:
- Subcommittee on Recommended Standards for Additional Life Saving and Fire Fighting Requirements on the Outer Continental Shelf
Co-chairs are Gene Facey (gfacey@msn.com) and Warren Weaver (warren.weaver@deepwater.com).
- Subcommittee on Certification of Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Locations on Foreign MODUs on the Outer Continental Shelf
Co-chairs are Gene Facey (gfacey@msn.com) and Warren Weaver (warren.weaver@deepwater.com).
- Subcommittee on Implementation of the International Labor Organization Maritime Labor Convention of 2006
Co-chairs are Patrice Delatte (pdelatte@tdw.com) and Grant Johnson (gjohnson@technip.com).
- Subcommittee on the Safety Impact of Life Boat Sea Service Limitations
Co-chairs are Paul Liberato (pliberato@comcast.net) and Jerry Dardar (jdardar@ckor.com).
- Subcommittee on the Review of Marine Casualty Reporting and form CG-2692 Revision
Co-chairs are Barry du Moulin (barry_dumoulin@msn.com) and Mike Marcom (mandadrilling@gmail.com).
To participate on the subcommittees, please contact one of the subcommittee co-chairs listed above.
For more information, please contact Alan Spackman at ext. 207 (alan.spackman@iadc.org).
India customs changes affect drilling operations
The government of India recently issued a clarification and notification related to the transfer of oil and gas equipment from one contract to another.
Previously, the Indian government required that equipment be exported out of the country and imported back in before work could commence on a different contract. The result of this ruling meant that the industry faced increased costs due to lost time, transfer of equipment and customs clearance costs.
A team headed by Transocean successfully lobbied for a change in this rule. The resulting clarification dismisses the need for first exporting equipment before it can change contract. It also details several other customs regulations that presented challenges to the oil and gas industry.
For more information, please contact Brian Petty at +1 202-293-0670 (brian.petty@iadc.org).
BSEE and US Coast Guard sign agreement on offshore oversight
The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and the US Coast Guard recently announced a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to strengthen their relationship on the management of the Outer Continental Shelf.
The two have shared responsibility for ensuring the regulation of safety management systems on the OCS. The MOA will be used to establish a process for the identification of offshore safety and environmental management requirements within the jurisdiction of both agencies and assist with the development of joint policies and guidance. The MOA also ensure that future regulations, policies and guidance are enforced consistently by both agencies.
For a copy of the MOA, please visit BSEE’s website.
For more information, please contact Brian Petty at +1 202-293-0670 (brian.petty@iadc.org).
US announces new national strategy for the Arctic
On 10 May, the President of the US signed the National Strategy for the Arctic, which articulates the US strategic priorities in the Arctic. It joins similar strategies distributed from fellow Arctic Council colleagues in Canada, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Russia and Sweden.
The strategy aims to guide, prioritize and synchronize efforts to protect US national and homeland security interests, promote responsible stewardship, and foster international cooperation.
It describes the changing conditions in the Arctic and discusses guiding principles to both protect the environment and the indigenous communities, along with advancing economic and energy development. Additionally, the strategy defined three lines of effort that incorporates the broad range of US current activities and interests in the region. They are:
- Advance US security interests
- Pursue responsible Arctic region stewardship
- Strengthen international cooperation
To access the Strategy, please visit the US White House website.
For more information, please contact Brian Petty at +1 202-293-0670 (brian.petty@iadc.org).
IADC Safety Alerts beneficial for entire industry
Since 1998, the IADC Safety Alert Program has been recognized worldwide as one of the industry’s best tools for the sharing of best practices and lessons learned from incidents that have occurred in oil and gas extraction operations.
The intent of the safety alert program is to share incidents and near misses for educational purposes as well as best practices with partners in the industry.
Recently, there have been a decreased number of alerts and best practices shared with IADC for publication. If your company has a safety alert program that focuses on best practices or lessons learned from incidents and near misses and you are willing to share the alert, please email it to safety.alerts@iadc.org.
For more information, please visit IADC’s Safety Alert website or contact Paul Breaux at ext. 227 (paul.breaux@iadc.org).
Well Servicing Committee updates mission, plans for the future
The Well Servicing Committee recently elected Trampas Poldrack of Basic Energy Services as its new chairman and Kerric Peyton of Superior Energy Services as its vice chairman.
At its 14 May meeting the committee identified several topics of interest. Members agreed to changes to the meeting format, along with the addition of a safety moment to begin each meeting. Joe Freeman of Pioneer Energy Services presented the Well Servicing Safety Moment for May.
Members identified the need to update the Mission Statement to better articulate the direction of the committee. Additionally, members discussed changes to the participating company, upcoming events, safety moment presentation and archived articles pages on the Well Servicing Committee website.
The committee approved the layout and content of the Incident Statistics Reporting program, which is designed for domestic and international Well Servicing operations. The program collects cumulative data for all participating well service businesses and will provide a comparison benchmark to evaluate performance. All data in the program will remain confidential. This program is expected to kick off on July 1, 2013.
The committee is seeking additional industry representation and input. Please visit the Well Servicing Committee website, or contact Scott Maddox at scott.maddox@iadc.org for more information.
IADC cancels World Drilling 2013
To ensure the safety of its delegates during the ongoing turmoil in Turkey, the International Association of Drilling Contractors is canceling its IADC World Drilling 2013 conference and exhibition (19-20 June), and the IADC Business Solutions for Drilling Automation Workshop (18 June).
Both events were scheduled to convene in Istanbul. IADC World Drilling 2013 will not be rescheduled. IADC World Drilling 2014 will convene on 18-19 June at the Austria Center Vienna. Please watch for future announcements.
IADC is reaching out to World Drilling registrants and exhibitors regarding refunds of fees and deposits.
If you were planning to attend the conference please be sure to cancel your hotel room. 17 June is the cut-off date for cancellations without incurring a penalty. Here is the Istanbul Hilton link: www.istanbul.hilton.com. Please click here for contact information on other affiliated hotels.
IADC regrets this difficult decision, but the safety of its members is paramount.
New medical examiner form required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
In the May 10, 2013 Federal Register, the FMCSA proposes to require certified medical examiners (MEs) performing physical examinations on drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMV) to use a newly developed Medical Examination Report (MER) Form, MCSA–5875 and to use Form MCSA–5876 for the medical examiner’s certificate (MEC).
In addition, MEs would be required to report results of all completed commercial drivers’ physical examinations to FMCSA by close of business on the day of the examination. This would include all CMV drivers who are required to be medically certified to operate in interstate commerce.
Reporting of this information would be accomplished by completing a CMV Driver Medical Examination Results Form, MCSA–5850, via individual password-protected National Registry web account. For holders of CDLs and CLPs, FMCSA also proposes to electronically transmit driver identification, examination results, and restriction system to the State Driver Licensing Agencies (SDLAs). This includes those that have been voided by FMCSA because it finds that an ME has certified a driver who does not meet the physical certification standards.
The Agency would also transmit medical variance information (exemptions, skills performance evaluation certificates and grandfathered exemptions) for all CMV drivers electronically to the SDLAs.
For additional information on this proposed rule, please contact Paul Breaux paul.breaux@iadc.org or Rhett Winter rhett.winter@iadc.org.
Safety Alerts
For the latest safety alerts, visit www.iadc.org/safety-alerts
Alert 13-13: Unsecured basket pin results in dropped objects
Alert 13-14: Mis-handled sub results in first aid
Reminders
Rigs Receive ISP Certificates
For certificates received since last LTI (in years):
New IADC Members
IADC welcomes 29 new members:
DRILLBITS Volume 23, Number 6
David Williams, Chairman • Stephen Colville, President and CEO • Amy Rose, Editor
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