Oil & Gas News

Offshore Safety Drives an American Success Story

For the past few weeks, American energy has been a focal point of both presidential election campaigns.

Gulf Coast residents, and Americans throughout the country, have been paying close attention. They understand that comments such as “no more drilling, including offshore,” ignore the reality that safety and environment stewardship are core values for American energy producers.

American energy is an American success story, and this reality is especially true among the Gulf of Mexico, where every type of company, whether they are an oil producer or a supply or service company, publicly traded or privately owned, has prioritized worker safety and environmental sustainability. 

Visitors to the Gulf Coast may be surprised by how well industry and natural beauty coexist. From fishermen to conservationists to tour guides to boat operators to offshore engineers, everyone works together in a way that strengthens the Gulf Coast’s abundant natural resources. The offshore oil and gas industry plays a key role in this synergy, thanks in part to continuous innovation and steadfast dedication to safety.

America innovates like few other countries can. In the Gulf of Mexico, this means there are widespread advances in machine learning, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Real-time data from everything from subsea sensors to space satellites are providing unprecedented detail data flows to engineering experts offshore and onshore. Not only is decision making strengthened by this unprecedented level of data but technological advances are allowing companies and workers to spot issues before they have a chance to become problems. This keeps all stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico safe. Furthermore, American technological innovations can be exported to the benefit of energy consumers around the world.

If called upon, the offshore industry has developed containment consortiums such as HWCG LLC and Marine Well Containment Corporation (MWCC) to provide access to equipment and services such as capping stacks and other containment technologies. HWCG and MWCC can rapidly and comprehensively respond to incidents. Likewise, a new rapid intervention system from Trendsetter Engineering has pushed safety forward by improving mobilization and integration. Safety engineering is continuously evolving.

Colossal engineering machines are not the only advances in offshore safety. There are engineering marvels at a much smaller level. Advances in engineering are allowing responders to apply subsea dispersants directly at the source of an oil spill. Part of the cutting edge of science, dispersant injections break oil into microscopic particles which accelerates the natural degradation by helping oil-consuming microorganisms and naturally occurring marine bacteria.

The National Academy of Sciences has found that the use of subsea dispersant injection into the source of flow reduces harmful threats to the health and safety of workers and reduces the potential of impacting sensitive coastal environmental resources. The good news is that, if needed, subsea dispersant injection can improve the working conditions of offshore workers and emergency responders, while simultaneously protecting the environment and other offshore industries, such as tourism and fishing, from impacts. The use of subsea dispersant injection should be supported by stakeholders and policymakers alike.

A wonderful symbol of the relationship between offshore energy and environmental stewardship can be found at any offshore platform. If you talk to Gulf Coast locals and ask them where you can find the best Gulf of Mexico fishing spots, you will generally hear the same answer: by offshore platforms. Diverse and abundant marine life start building homes around the anchoring of offshore platforms. This ecological marvel could not happen without constant dedication to safety and environmental performance. 

Every barrel of oil produced in the Gulf of Mexico is a barrel produced under some of the toughest environmental and safety standards in the world. Countries such as Russia cannot claim that. The American offshore oil and gas industry has built world-class oil and gas production that utilizes a smaller environmental footprint and has a sophisticated backstop of prevention and preparedness tools and procedures. Limiting Gulf of Mexico production would only outsource production to riskier regions.

American energy, including Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production, should be a point of bipartisan unity. The more than 345,000 men and women along the Gulf Coast and in every U.S. state who make up our industry provide an irreplaceable service. The way in which they provide energy, is a path to prosperity and a higher quality of life for everyone.

By National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) President Erik Milito

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