SPE's response on Gulf oil spill
09. July 2010
SPE will help address technical issues resulting from the Macondo Well blowout, and facilitate the sharing of best practices that will emerge from the ongoing investigations.
|
Letter from SPE 2010 President to members |
Dear SPE member:
The Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico is very much on the minds
of the leadership of SPE, as well as our members. SPE’s Board of Directors and
staff have had extensive discussions about what expertise SPE can contribute to
best serve the industry and the public in this current crisis.
The conclusion of our discussions is that SPE can be most useful in addressing
technical issues resulting from the accident and facilitating the sharing of best
practices that will emerge from the ongoing investigations.
SPE as a society is not participating in the emergency response. There are a
large number of qualified people from the industry, including SPE members, who
are working with BP and the government agencies to resolve the situation and to
provide the news media with unbiased information about the challenges of doing
so.
SPE can help the industry to learn from this incident through our conferences
and publications, and will provide a forum for discussions on changes needed in
equipment, operating practices, training and other recommendations on how to prevent
or reduce the impact of future oil spills.
SPE also provides factual resources for public energy education, and we are reviewing
what basic information we can add to SPE’s Energy4me.org website to educate the
public, teachers and students about offshore drilling, safety and environmental
protection.
As an energy professional, you may get questions from your family and neighbors
about the oil spill, or face public questions if you make classroom or other presentations
over the coming months. This incident has greatly damaged the public’s confidence
in the safety of offshore drilling and impacted the image of oil and gas industry.
We encourage you to help by offering factual information in these conversations.
To assist you in answering questions about the oil spill, we are sharing information
presented by contributors and reviewers of the US Department of Interior’s “30-Day
Review” of the Macondo oil spill (INCREASED SAFETY MEASURES FOR ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN THE OUTER CONTINENTAL SHELF,
MAY 27, 2010). These engineering experts were recommended by the National Academy of Engineering,
and included SPE Board members Kenneth E. Arnold, National Academy of Engineering
member, and Ford Brett, managing director of Petroskills. See the questions and answers.
This tragic event in the Gulf of Mexico has been a stark reminder of the risks
and challenges in offshore operations, and how vigilant we must always be about
safety and environmental protection. When all of the contributing factors are
known, we will work together to keep an accident like this from ever happening
again, anywhere in the world.
Thank you for your continuing participation in SPE.
Best regards,
Behrooz Fattahi
2010 SPE President
2010 SPE President
< Back
