Both operators and regulators agree that sharing industry safety successes and failures could lead to improved standards and fewer incidents industrywide. How to achieve that goal of information sharing was one of the topics at the “Safety in the New Offshore World” forum held on May 2 at OTC.

“There’s a need for industry collaboration,” said Sylvie Tran, general manager, safety and environment of deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GoM) at Shell Oil Co. “The industry needs to step up to increase sharing of learnings of data so that we can learn from each other’s mistakes—contractors, regulators and operators. Companies express concern about sharing data, but we need to overcome those barriers to find a safe place to overcome our mistakes.”

Tran was joined on the panel by Lars Herbst, regional director, GoM at the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE); Marcel Borges de Macedo, superintendent of Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP); Matthew Mower, director of applied technology and data analytics with ABS Consulting; and Mike Drieu, EHS adviser at Anadarko Petroleum.

Drieu acknowledged the obstacle companies face in sharing information across the industry.

“We are trying to be transparent and forthright,” he said. “We should share mistakes and learning, but that will take some tough skin to share some of those.”

In the current lower-for-longer oil price environment in which a barrel of West Texas Intermediate has not traded for more than $60/bbl since mid-2015, operators have cut costs across their operations. Herbst expressed concern that among the first costs to be slashed when companies look for ways to be economically successful in the current price structure environment are safety standards, particularly among smaller operators in deep water.

“Smaller operators in deep water are not as well funded as larger operators in the GoM, and their bottom line is impacted much quicker,” Herbst said. “This is exaggerated further by deepwater [projects] that carry higher operating costs.”

According to BSEE, there are 2,104 active facilities in the deepwater GoM, of which 449 are operated by financially at-risk companies. Of the 3,409 leases in the GoM, 208 are being operated by financially at-risk companies. These dynamics often lead to operators cutting safety corners and deferring maintenance, Herbst said.

“Facilities not maintained properly and the final decommissioning of wells takes longer, which increases risks of exposure,” Herbst said.

Another safety challenge facing the industry the panelists acknowledged is a misalignment of regulations across geographic regions, such as regulations set forth for GoM operations and those for offshore Brazil and the North Sea.

“Consistency and global standards is something we support,” Tran said. “Regulation consistency, sharing of best practices—it’s about collaboration, learning and sharing resources.”

Macedo explained that as Brazil revamps its industry framework to open up both onshore and offshore plays to potential new investors and operators, it also is reworking its regulatory framework. So far, Macedo said, ANP has updated or established new regulatory mandates, including for well integrity management systems and subsea management systems.

Forum moderator Henrique Paula, senior vice president of strategic initiatives for ABS, said the industry needs to remain diligent in its safety efforts in an economic downcycle in which safety could be overlooked.

“When we go into the downcycle it produces pressure to reduce costs,” Paula said. “That translates to reducing staff or finding other ways to cut costs. It’s in the operators’ interest and in in the regulatory interest to ensure safety and environmental protections.”