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CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - JANUARY 2012
mons, NEB Review and the New-
foundland government’s review of
capability.
The findings reported by the
Senate Committee of Energy, the
Environmental and Natural Re-
sources in their report “Facts Do Not
Justify Banning Canada’s Current
Offshore Drilling Operations: A
Senate Review in the Wake of BP’s
Deepwater Horizon Incident (August
2010)” showed that Canada’s off-
shore policies on spill prevention are
robust.
CAPP had the opportunity, on
behalf of industry, to present to the
Committee, and stated that the
industry supported the objectives of
proceedings related to better under-
standing what is currently happen-
ing in Canada: “the activity and
what oversight is in place.” Barnes
told CIO that all three major
initiatives “concluded that yes, there
are some improvements to be made,
but for the most part, the Canadian
offshore regulatory environment is
robust and suitable for Canada’s
particular offshore environment—
no major overhaul is needed.”
COMMUNICATION TO
STAKEHOLDERS, AND THE
CANADIAN PUBLIC
While the oil industry and regula-
tors came to the conclusion that
Canada’s health, safety and
environment policies are in fact ad-
equate, the North American public
has since continued to wrestle with
the notion that the offshore industry
can be considered safe. Therefore,
CAPP has taken on the role of
informer and educator, in order to
present the oil industry offshore in
an appropriate light.
One of CAPP’s key messages
throughout has been that it is
imperative to “reassure Canadians
that resources are being developed
responsibly and that the risks
associated are reduced as much as
possible.”
In one of CAPP’s statements, the
association stated that “CAPP and
its members believe that the incident
in the Gulf of Mexico is a tragic
event, both from a human and an
environmental perspective,” and
therefore “it is in the interest of all
stakeholders that we collectively
take time to consider the findings
and recommendations arising from
the investigation of this incident.”
Since the incident, it has become
clear that it is also in the interest of
all stakeholders that the result of
any reviews be made to the public.
“We know that this industry is safe.
It may have been a surprise to the
public that regulators deem it safe—
but it is not a surprise to us. It is
however more comforting to the
public and other stakeholders that
there are those kinds of reviews—it
is good to have it validated,” Barnes
explained.
“Furthermore, there is likely more
communication between operators
and regulators than there was
before the spill. Part of this is
because there is more documenta-
tion that is required since the
incident,” he continued, “and there
is more information being made
available to the public by regula-
tors.”
CAPP is planning to “do more to
tell our good news story around
offshore drilling safety and environ-
ment in 2012,” Barnes assured.
“
Fur thermore, there is likely more
communication between operators and
regulators than there was before the spill. Par t
of this is because there is more documentation
that is required since the incident”
COVER STORY - OFFSHORE OIL