The IADC Australasia Chapter recently made a submission to Australia’s Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (DRET) as part of a government-mandated independent review of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA). NOPSA began operations in January 2005 and has since made significant changes to the requirements that drilling contractors face in the management of health and safety in Australian waters.

Additionally, a new levy system intended to cover NOPSA’s operational costs was set up that includes drilling contractors as “operators.” Rig owners have continued to protest this levy.

Saying the nation’s energy situation has dramatically changed in the past year, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne has jumpstarted the development of a new oil and natural gas leasing program for the US Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The action could give the next administration a two-year head start in expanding energy production from federal offshore jurisdictions, including some areas where a congressional ban had prevented oil and gas development.

“When our current five-year program for Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing was launched in July 2007, oil was selling for $64 a barrel,” Mr Kempthorne said. “Today a barrel of oil costs more than $120, almost double the price a year ago. Clearly, today’s escalating energy prices and the widening gap between US energy consumption and supply have changed the fundamental assumptions on which many of our decisions were based.”