Nirvana Regulation for Petroleum Operations

Abstract

Simultaneously meeting the expectations of both the public and business is no mean feat. Environmentally sustainable development (ESD) must be more than a marketing motto. Foundations for trustworthy regulators, regulations and industrial operations include: - Competent regulators and industry professionals with the capacity to effectively engage with people and enterprises potentially affected by the life-cycle of resource enterprise operations; - Objective-base resource legislation and regulations, wherein the E in ESD means the natural, social and economic environment so that resource industry regulators have the same outcomes in mind as their co-regulators across governments – consistent with public expectations; - Government agencies that walk the talk when it comes to deploying certainty, openness, transparency, flexibility, practicality and efficiency; - Engagement is required to happen well before any on-ground operations of any sort become a perceived or actual invasion of sensitivities, and the information provided need be sufficient to inform people and enterprises potentially affected by the relevant regulated activities in a timely manner, to underpin informed points-of-view; - Regulation is contestable anytime, everywhere but without support for vexatious objections to land access; - Fair and expeditious dispute resolution processes prevail with all regulatory decisions ultimately open to resolution in court, and fair compensation is provided to affected land-users; - Proposed activities must meet two criteria – or are not be permitted: (1) significant risks need be reduced to as low as reasonably practical (ALARP) and (2) operations must satisfy community expectations for net outcomes. This latter standard has the general public's interest in mind, not just a few stakeholders. Also, ALARP is inevitably evolutionary; - Project operators regularly reporting on their environmental outcomes, and describe innovation to mitigate any re-occurrence of mishaps, and these become public documents; and - Lead regulatory agencies (or a one-stop-shop approach) serve as an effective way to coordinate co-regulatory decisions in parallel, rather than in series. The presentation will describe the drivers, and the enabling governing frameworks created while aspiring to attain regulatory Nirvana in South Australia

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90217 © 2015 International Conference & Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia, September 13-16, 2015