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WASHINGTON, December 15, 2010 – The American Petroleum Institute (API) today reminded the U.S. Chemical Safety Board of the strengths of the existing system of standards for offshore operations.
Testifying before the board at a hearing on last summer’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill incident, API Upstream Director Eric Milito said that while industry and government should be looking to find and rectify every possible safety shortcoming, “we must also recognize the strength of the existing system that has helped prevent incidents.”
Over the decades, Milito said, “an enormous amount of work by regulators and operators has gone into staying safe offshore. Emphasis on safety has increased. Trend lines showing incidents and volumes spilled have gone down.”
Milito noted that this year, API will conduct nearly 2,500 audits to verify that manufacturers are complying with API quality and manufacturing standards, which are accredited by the American National Standards Institute, the authority on U.S. standard setting.
Also today, API announced that it has published a revised edition of the industry standard dealing with cementing operations in onshore and offshore (including deepwater) wells.
The standard is intended to help prevent and/or control flow zones in cementing operations and to help prevent sustained casing pressure in wells.
The updates found in the second edition of API Std 65, Part 2 are intended to address some of the preliminary findings surrounding potential cementing issues identified in various investigations of last April’s Macondo rig explosion.
In addition, changes were needed as a result of the incorporation of this industry standard by Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) into its regulations. In incorporating the standard, BOEM decided to treat optional recommendations found in the document as mandatory. The updates clarify provisions in the document that had become confusing with the BOEM decision and strengthen the requirements that are important in proper cementing operations.
“This action highlights our industry’s commitment to respond quickly as the investigations into the events leading up to the Macondo incident continue,” said Andy Radford, API senior upstream policy advisor, who added that API encourages BOEM to adopt this improved and revised edition into its regulations.
API represents more than 400 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America’s energy, supports more than 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.5 percent of the U.S. economy, and, since 2000, has invested nearly $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives, while reducing the industry’s environmental footprint.
Updated: Deccember 16, 2010