AmericasOffshoreRegulatory

BSEE proposes winding back safety regulations introduced after Deepwater Horizon

US offshore oil and gas industry regulator the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has proposed relaxing some safety measures introduced after BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill in the US Gulf of Mexico, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The agency, which comes under the Department of the Interior, is following the agenda of the administration of US President Donald Trump to reduce burdensome government regulations that it says are hampering industry.

In its first year the administration has been living up to that promise by undoing regulations across a wide range of industries at a rate of knots.

Among the measures that BSEE suggests softening are: a requirement that third-party inspectors of critical equipment be certified by BSEE; and a requirement for operators to stream real-time data on production to shore for potential review by regulators.

BSEE was brought into existence during the administration of President Barack Obama as a response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which saw 11 people die in the oil rig’s explosion. The blast was caused by the failure of a blowout preventer and saw oil gush from an uncapped well for almost three months, the worst oil spill in US history.

Donal Scully

With 28 years experience writing and editing for newspapers in the UK and Hong Kong, Donal is now based in California from where he covers the Americas for Splash as well as ensuring the site is loaded through the Western Hemisphere timezone.
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