Atlantic offshore energy operators raising their EH&S game
By PLANT STAFF
Industry Energy Manufacturing Resource Sector CAPP energy environment manufacturing SafetyCAPP report outlines 13 near and long-term initiatives to improve environment, health and safety performance.
ST. JOHN’S, NL — Energy companies operating offshore Newfoundland and Labrador facilities are looking to improve their environment, health and safety (EH&S) performance.
A new report from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) features 13 initial near and long-term focus areas, developed in consultation with the Canada–Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, governments, and local stakeholders.
The objective of Collaborating for Safety and Sustainability: A Continuous Improvement Plan is to enhance collaboration and communications with a focus on incident prevention, training and competency with the offshore workforce; spill response capability to minimize the impact of potential release on the environment; and to support efforts to reduce GHG emissions.
Initiatives include:
- Establishing a common language to manage risk.
- Improve understanding of the perception of safety culture.
- Share lessons learned among industry.
- Collaborate to identify opportunities for alignment and improvement.
- Enhance training, learning and information sharing.
- Work with the fishing industry and other stakeholders.
- Share and adopt best practices.
- Evaluate options for additional simulation training to enhance learning.
- Conduct an assessment of spill response capabilities.
- Map greenhouse gas emissions for producing assets.
- Work with government and regulators to enhance training for wildlife observers.
- Evaluate and adopt new leak detection and subsea monitoring technology.
- Identify research and development opportunities.
“Canada’s standards for EH&S in the offshore region are among the most stringent in the world. Our members have developed comprehensive safety management systems to ensure they meet or exceed regulatory requirements,” said Paul Barnes, CAPP’s director of Atlantic Canada and Arctic.
The area is be;sieved to have 52 billion barrels of oil and 200 trillion cubic feet of gas believed to be under the seafloor, which will spawn a $4 billion race to find the next big energy project, reports the Chronicle Herald in Halifax. It notes several exploratory wells will be drilled this year, with up to a 100 expected over the decade.
