Early engagement

Abstract

In mid-2010, amendments to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Safety) Regulations 2009 and the associated Levies Regulations provided, for the first time, a mechanism for operators of proposed facilities to enter formal dialogue with the regulator about the safety of a proposed facility early in its design. The amended provisions provided flexibility to the timing of agreeing to a scope of validation and the means for the regulator to recover the costs of assessing a submission made at this early stage. Since mid-2010, a number of operators have chosen to submit early engagement safety cases for assessment and feedback to manage regulatory risk. Such submissions have also provided the regulator with the opportunity to challenge the operator’s consideration of inherent safety principles at a point in the design of a facility when changes could be reasonably expected to be made. While the present arrangements have been welcomed by industry and the regulator alike, they do encompass a number of challenges. In particular, the application of existing provisions not appropriately focused on concept selection and design has required the use of suboptimal administrative arrangements. The National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) and the National Offshore Petroleum and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) have continued to work with the Department of Resources Energy and Tourism to ensure the regime includes more appropriately targeted provisions applicable to all proposed production facilities in the future. This extended abstract summarises the latest experiences and the view about where early engagement is headed in pursuit of a safer Australian offshore petroleum industry.