HOUSTON – The 2017 Offshore Technology Conference is in the history books. At the offshore oil and gas industry’s largest annual event, many attendees looked to BSEE and the Department of the Interior for indicators about the future of safe oil and gas production on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf.
Through participation in daily panels, BSEE leadership and expert engineers demonstrated dedication to promoting safe, responsible and efficient offshore oil and gas operations that help secure reliable energy production for America’s future. The panels focused on topics ranging from a multi-disciplinary discussion of the Mad Dog field development to safety in the offshore environment in the context of future activity.
On Monday, BSEE’s Bryan Domangue took part in the discussion “Mad Dog Field: A Multi-Disciplinary Look at the Opportunities, Technology Breakthroughs, Challenges and Learnings of a Giant Deepwater Field Development.” On Tuesday, Lars Herbst, Director of BSEE’s Gulf of Mexico Region, spoke about safety in the new offshore world. On Wednesday, BSEE’s Chris Martens and Mike Prendergast participated in the panel “Offshore Operators Committee: Risk Management of Well Intervention in the Gulf of Mexico.”
On the conference’s fourth and final day, Douglas Morris, Chief of BSEE’s Office of Offshore Regulatory Programs, rounded out the week during a Center for Offshore Safety panel discussion, “Regulatory Perspectives on Safety Management and Future Activity.” The panelists, Captain Joshua Reynolds, District 8 Outer Continental Shelf OCMI, United States Coast Guard, and Claudine Bradley, Technical Leader, Safety, Research and Innovation, for the National Energy Board of Canada discussed their perspectives on safety throughout the industry. Morris and Reynolds announced the release earlier Thursday morning of the 2016-17 Joint Activity Summary, a first-time effort detailing collaborations between BSEE and the Coast Guard focused on OCS oil and gas operations.
Founded in 1969, the OTC is held annually during the first week of May at the NRG Center in Houston.