Offshore Oil and Gas Regulation in the Arctic: Room for Harmonization?

Abstract

Is there room for Arctic Ocean coastal states to harmonize how they regulate offshore oil and gas activity in the Arctic Ocean? This article answers yes, that coastal state authorities responsible for regulating offshore activity can work incrementally toward convergence in matters they identify as best suited to harmonization. Canada and the United States are the focal points of this study. Their shared maritime boundary in the Beaufort Sea traverses a part of the Arctic Ocean that is poised for expanded oil and gas exploration. Even if the boundary were not the subject of a well-managed diplomatic disagreement, regulators would do well to consider how their practices might complement and benefit both states. Possible advantages range from efficiencies in sharing baseline geo-physical, oceanographic or biological information, to combining resources for oil spill response planning. Such bilateral discussions can also provide lessons for offshore oil and gas regulators throughout the circumpolar north.In the wake of the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon/BP Macondo explosion and blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, regulators around the world began reviewing their respective approaches to offshore regulation. This paper draws in part on the results of those studies, in part on US and Canadian executive and legislative provisions, and on other literature.The Appendix contains a partial listing of Forums and Studies Relevant to Arctic Offshore regulation through June 2012.