INPEX recognised for environmental project excellence
INPEX Australia was the winner of the Environmental Project Excellence Award at the 2022 APPEA Conference in May.
INPEX Australia’s Browse Regional Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (Browse ROPEP) was the first ‘pilot’ of a regional oil spill response plan designed for multiple activities and multiple titleholder use in Australia.
The scope of the Browse ROPEP was related to INPEX Australia’s activities in the Canning, Browse, and Bonaparte petroleum basins, and included a description of its oil spill emergency response capabilities and arrangements, high level guidance and process support for its Incident Management Team, and a demonstration that Regulation 14 of the OPGGS Regulations intentions have been met.
According to APPEA, the global petroleum industry banded together after the Montara and Macondo disasters to develop a suite of preparedness measures to deal with future oil spills, which has now been piloted with the release of the Browse ROPEP.
According to a Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism (now Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources) report following the Montara and Macondo inquiries, oil and gas emergency response policies saw a shift in 1991 to adopt a new performance/objective-based regulation model.
It said that an important feature of the new objective-based regulation was that it encouraged continuous improvement rather than a compliance mentality.
“The Australian objective-based regime places the onus on the industry to ensure and demonstrate to regulators that the risks of an incident relating to oil and gas operations are reduced to ‘as low as reasonably practicable’,” the report said.
“It is essential that a regulatory system encourage the creator of the risk to move beyond minimum standards in a continuous effort for improvement, and not just accept the minimum standard.”
APPEA said that the ROPEP process was extensively promoted at various stages of its development via APPEA and NOPSEMA working groups and cooperative forums.
APPEA acting chief executive Damian Dwyer thanked entrants for their dedication to applying leading environment, health, and safety practices.
“It’s brilliant to see innovative companies adopting new approaches and technologies for the challenges and opportunities the oil and gas sector faces,” Mr Dwyer said.
“Our industry is committed to continuous improvement and these awards are a chance to highlight the outstanding work undertaken across our membership.”
APPEA also recognised projects by Santos and Beach Energy for their environment and safety initiatives:
- Santos’ ‘How to drive safely around the world 500 times per year’ initiative was recognised for its improvement of workplace and health and safety practices for its staff
- Beach Energy’s Prion Impact Assessment was recognised for its studies examining scallop biomasses and improving understanding of new seismic survey technologies.