Offshore Drilling Nations Meeting April 14
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the Ministerial Forum on Offshore Drilling Containment and said 13 countries and the European Union had been invited to send representatives.
Two events in the next two weeks involve oversight of offshore energy operations in the United States, and the first one is actually global. U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the April 14 Ministerial Forum on Offshore Drilling Containment and said 13 countries and the European Union had been invited to send representatives. Interior's Ocean Energy Safety Advisory Committee (OESC) will hold its first public meeting April 18.
Salazar said the April 14 meeting will allow ministers and senior government officials from nations engaged in offshore oil and gas extraction to discuss the development of technologies for containing potential deepwater well blowouts on their outer continental shelves. He made the announcement while visiting with Brazilian and Mexican officials to discuss cooperative efforts on safety in offshore energy development; the forum will be held in Washington, D.C., at the Interior Department.
Information and a draft agenda are available at this website.
"Just as we share oceans with our neighbors, we have an interest in sharing best practices for how all of us can develop our resources safely and responsibly," Salazar said. "Those of us engaged in offshore energy exploration and production have a collective responsibility to strengthen our capabilities for containing potential deepwater blowouts and promoting international collaboration, research, and development going forward."
Confirmed participants include ministers and senior officials from Brazil, Mexico, Australia, the United Kingdom, Norway, Russia, Canada, India, Israel, Netherlands, Angola, and the European Union. Two panels of industry and academic experts will deliver presentations on the lessons learned from recent blowouts and offer suggestions for containment capabilities in the future.