October 2012
Columns
First Oil
I am, by nature, a clumsy person. I can stumble on a level floor. When we’re eating together, be aware of the potential for a glass spilling or fork flying. There’s hell to pay, when my regulatory enforcement authority (wife) discovers evidence of breakage—broken glass in a corner of the kitchen floor or a chip on a porcelain dish.
As such, I have some sympathy for companies trying to regain composure in the aftermath of an oil spill. BP Vice President Morrison was in just such a position at a plenary session on “Offshore operational safety and its impacts” on Sept. 20 at the 2012 Rio Oil & Gas Conference. Chaired by Petrobras E&P Director José Miranda Formigli, the panel included operating company representatives Helga Nes, HSE Vice President for Statoil; and John Hollowell, Executive Vice President of Shell Upstream Americas. Representing the regulators were James Watson, Director, U.S. Bureau of Safety and Enforcement (BSEE) and Raphael Naves Moura, Superintendent of Operational Safety and Environment for ANP, Brazil’s regulatory agency.