API calls for better offshore well control

Ahead of a congressional hearing in New Orleans on Tuesday, American Petroleum Institute (API) on Monday highlighted the importance of offshore oil and natural gas development to the region’s economic development. API also added that further offshore development could create hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Namely, the U.S. Committee on Natural Resource will host a hearing today in New Orleans named “The Impacts of Federal Policies on Energy Production and Economic Growth in the Gulf”.

The hearing will focus on the current state of offshore oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico, what measures, if any, the federal government is taking to manage outer Continental Shelf resources to maintain the nation’s competitive advantage, and how federal policy decisions impact current and future oil and natural gas development.

Erik Milito, API upstream group director said: “The oil and natural gas industry supports hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast jobs.”

“Offshore energy has driven Louisiana’s economy for generations, and building on that growth requires a regulatory approach that embraces safe, responsible development.”

API recently issued a request that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) arrange workshops with each of the eight industry workgroups involved with analyzing respective sections of BSEE’s proposed well control rule in order to address fundamental technical and economic flaws in the proposal that could increase risks to people and the environment.

“We are committed to working with government officials to ensure that America’s offshore energy development is the safest in the world,” said Milito.

“Industry standards and smart regulatory oversight are key to our success, but the well control rule, as proposed, does not meet this commitment and could ultimately reverse existing improvements to offshore safety.”

Citing recent studies, API said that further exploration and production of offshore oil and natural gas in the U.S. Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the U.S. Pacific OCS and the Eastern Gulf of Mexico could create hundreds of thousands of jobs, boost U.S. energy security, increase domestic investment and grow government revenue.

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