As part of its efforts to boost offshore oil and gas drilling safety post the BP offshore tragedy a few years ago, the federal administration has announced the establishment of a new offshore safety Institute that is focused on enhancing safety in these areas.
The announcement was made by the Interior Department, which says that the new institute will focus specifically on safety of workers in oil and gas drilling projects in the coastal United States. The Institute is being tentatively called the Ocean Energy Safety Institute, and there is little information about exactly how this institute will run, or even where it will be based.
However, this much is clear to Texas offshore injury lawyers. The administration intends through this institute to help federal regulators stay updated with the continuously and fast-developing technology used for oil and gas extraction in deep sea waters.
The Institute was established after a recommendation made by an energy advisory committee earlier this year. The Institute will work to channel information sharing between federal regulators as well as scientists in the offshore industry.
According to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the oil and gas industry is moving into deeper and deeper waters to expand exploration. As more and more sophisticated technologies are used to extract oil from the under the seafloor, it is important that federal regulators also keep in touch with these technological developments.
That need emerged after the BP oil rig explosion of 2010 when it was found that federal regulators had simply not been able to keep pace with the technological developments in deep sea drilling. That inevitably did hamper response efforts.
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