Oil Industry Can Improve Safety, But Risk Will Always Lurk

The conclusion that the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico needs to make a “major transformation” in its approach to safety, which will be delivered by the co-chairman of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling later Wednesday, is hardly surprising.

There is already a broad acceptance from companies drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico that regulations will be more stringent, risk management must improve and the industry needs to improve its preparedness for handling deep water blowouts.

“There has to be a recognition that the industry has not made safety a high enough priority. We need a major transformation in the oil and gas industry’s understanding of what it means to put a priority on creating a safety culture,” Commission co-chairman William Reilly plans to say at a conference in New Orleans.

Oil Industry Can Improve Safety, But Risk Will Always Lurk - The Source - WSJ