Perth
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Good afternoon distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the International Offshore Petroleum Regulators and Operators Summit.
I would like to thank all those who have travelled such a distance to be here today.
In hosting this event the Australian Government aims to provide a forum to further advance the important work already underway to strengthen safety in the offshore petroleum industry.
All sectors of the industry, from Australia and overseas, are here to share the lessons from what happened at Montara and in the Gulf of Mexico, and how they are being applied.
With delegates from the USA, UK, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Germany, Norway, The Netherlands and New Zealand the global commitment to achieving this could not be clearer.
The willingness to teach, as well as to learn, is evidenced by the outstanding calibre of speakers who have agreed to share their knowledge and expertise.
The road to Perth
In an industry that operates off the coastlines of so many different countries, where maritime boundaries are no barrier at all in the event of a major incident, and whose continued viability is so important to global energy security, the case for international collaboration is self evident.
For while geologies may differ, the technologies and processes employed in petroleum production are common around the world.
Most, if not all, petroleum companies operate or aspire to operate in multiple jurisdictions.
And while different nations have their own regulatory frameworks the objective of each is identical, and that is the protection of human health and the environment.
Parallels in the findings and recommendations from the inquiries into both Montara and Macondo provide the impetus for this summit.
Most importantly both inquiries found that Montara and Macondo were preventable.
Failures by operators were systemic and a culture of complacency – by industry and regulators – came at an unacceptable cost.
The two inquiries found that substantial cultural, regulatory and operational reform were required if we were to prevent such incidents from recurring.
Both identified a need to be better prepared to respond should we fail in prevention.
And the two reports recognised that successful regulation of the offshore petroleum industry requires that the dual imperatives of sound environmental outcomes and the discovery and exploitation of new petroleum reserves must both be served.
This afternoon we will hear in more detail from commissioners who participated in or undertook the inquiries into Macondo or Montara.
How we best act on their findings and recommendations, an assessment of what has been done to date and what remains to be achieved are the key questions for consideration today and tomorrow.
The way forward
This summit is an integral part of our response.
It covers five topics:
- culture, leadership and management within the industry
- incident-response and preparedness
- doing business globally
- innovation in well-containment and deep-sea drilling
- and environmental stewardship
Leading experts are here to engage with you at this summit.
Their expertise covers the global offshore petroleum industry, government, regulators and academia.
We’ll share knowledge, learn from others’ experiences and find practical solutions – doing everything possible to make the offshore petroleum industry safer.
The Australian Government is committed to playing its part in prevention, intervention and response-preparedness.
Through our own experiences and the Montara Commission of Inquiry, we learned what happened, what should have happened, and what changes are needed to addresses the deficiencies identified.
The Australian Government’s final response to the Report of the Montara Commission of Inquiry accepted or noted all but three of the Inquiry’s 105 recommendations.
A significant number of those recommendations have either been implemented already, or are in the process of being implemented by the Australian Government.
We are clarifying administrative practices of the regulator and the operating practices of the offshore petroleum industry.
Greater clarity, in turn, strengthens the overall operating framework.
We retain a flexible, objective-based regime, one that allows industry to embrace best practice and manage the ever-changing work environment.
Implementing the final Government response to the Montara Inquiry fosters continuous improvement through best practice and regulation, including compliance.
As we did during the Macondo blowout, we will continue to share information with our colleagues in the United States, Europe and in Asia.
By engaging and collaborating internationally, we increase the effectiveness of our own response and contribute to the effectiveness of others’.
This week’s summit builds on a range of other international initiatives underway.
In April this year, the US Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, hosted a Ministerial Forum on Offshore Drilling Containment in Washington DC.
The forum offered government, regulators, industry and academia a chance to exchange information on the best path to cutting-edge, effective, containment technologies.
My Department gave a presentation on the Commonwealth’s response to Montara and a representative from our National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority also attended.
Alongside other nations Australia is also playing a role in the G20 Global Marine Environment Protection Initiative and the International Maritime Organization.
The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee is considering lessons learnt from Macondo, including a new understanding of oil spill response technologies.
By working together across borders, we’ll strengthen existing regulatory frameworks around the world.
Industry, of course, has a vital role too.
The burden of restoring public confidence falls to us all, government, regulators and industry together.
The offshore petroleum industry must continue to show that it deserves to maintain its social licence to operate.
This call is not going unanswered. The industry has improved both here in Australia and globally, not least in spill-prevention and mitigation techniques.
Individually and collectively, companies are reviewing their prevention and response operations.
You’ll hear more about those efforts at this summit.
The business case for improvement
At first glance, perhaps, regulators and operators approach the question of safety from different positions.
But the burden and cost to business of making serious mistakes is self-evident, whether it’s in an objective-based regulatory framework or one that’s prescribed.
Putting our workers or the environment at risk can mean losing the privilege to develop our natural resources.
In short, continuous improvement reduces risk.
A culture of safety and environmental protection is every bit a part of a good business strategy as any other.
Leadership is a key ingredient in any successful strategy.
We need leadership by governments, regulators and operators alike – all of us taking meaningful steps to put lessons we’ve learnt into practice, and inspiring others.
Only continuous improvement, where governments work with regulators and industry to promote skills and a culture of safety-compliance, will achieve the outcomes we want.
The need to ensure that effective regulation and safe operating procedures keep pace with developments will only become more acute as new technologies are pioneered and deployed and as the industry continues to expand and move into frontier areas.
Conclusion
Ladies and gentlemen, the jobs and prosperity that flow from the global offshore petroleum industry are vital.
But they cannot come at any cost.
Protecting lives and preserving our marine environment hinge on strong leadership by all of us.
This summit is a pivotal part of our strategy for a safe, strong and competitive offshore petroleum industry.
I thank you for your participation and trust you will find the summit both informative and productive.