In November, a colleague and I travelled to The Hague, Netherlands to attend a Society of Petroleum Engineers workshop titled Where Authorities Meet the Industry to Define Well Integrity. This was a worthwhile endeavour as the workshop was heavily attended by technical experts from the industry and regulatory authorities from around the world, who presented their respective viewpoints on matters such as well decommissioning, cement barrier verification, inflow testing, and risk-based methodology for abandonment, in addition to discussing several new technologies. The workshop was an excellent learning opportunity and a timely one, considering the significant number of wells to be abandoned around the world over the next decade. This is also a growing focus in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area in light of the active exploration and delineation activities underway, as well as the presence of some aging fields in our region.

We also took the opportunity to meet with Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority, the United Kingdom’s Health and Safety Executive and the Netherlands regulator, along with the United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, to share learnings, discuss technical matters, and exchange regulatory strategies for resolving operational challenges. A wide range of topics were discussed during these meetings, including Asset Life Extension, Cement Bond Log Requirements, Testing of Completion Tubing, Blow-out Contingency Preparedness, Oversight of Daily Operations and more.

From these sessions, we came away with further confirmation and clarity of our understanding of how our counterparts conduct their regulatory oversight; the role of risk assessments in evaluating technical issues; appropriate deliberation time frames for issues; the application of the As Low as Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) principle; and the value of metrics tracking and audits. This has helped us to shape some of our goals for further improvement in 2017.

It is clear that although we are smaller in size than our North Sea and American counterparts, the manner in which the C-NLOPB applies oversight to offshore operations is world-class, and on par with the approaches of our larger, international counterparts. I am very proud to be part of the work conducted by the C-NLOPB, and grateful and appreciative for opportunities to engage and consult with other highly experienced international regulatory authorities. We will continuously improve as a result of such interactions and we in turn embrace our responsibility to contribute to international regulatory excellence.

Blog 2017