API: BOEMRE move towards clear, efficient process for new offshore approvals is good step forward

WASHINGTON, March 28, 2011 – API today issued the following statement regarding BOEMRE’s release of supplementary guidance for offshore deepwater drilling safety requirements:

"Today's announcement by the BOEMRE is a positive step towards getting Americans back to work in the Gulf of Mexico," said Erik Milito, upstream director at API. "Ensuring a clear, consistent, and efficient process for offshore regulatory requirements and for approvals of permits is a crucial component to steadily increasing offshore production. Comprehensible benchmarks are important for dialogue as the API and the industry continue to develop and improve industry best-practices and world-class certifications while working cooperatively with the government to promote safe offshore operations."

API represents more than 470 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.