Previously as part of the European Union (EU), HSE and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) was set up as the Competent Authority (CA) under Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations and amending Directive 2004/35/EC.
Under the terms of the EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020, government has maintained the current regulatory regimes to avoid disruption to businesses.
The Offshore Petroleum Licensing (Offshore Safety Directive) Regulations 2015 (the Licensing Regulations) include provisions relating to the capability of prospective Licensees and the capacity of Operators who are appointed under the regulations to undertake well operations and/or offshore petroleum operations.
Prospective Licensees are required to provide the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) (the Licensing Authority (LA)) with several submissions in support of their applications, including submissions to enable the OMAR to assess their safety and environmental capability.
Prior to undertaking well operations and/or offshore petroleum operations, the Licensees must notify the NSTA with their proposal to appoint Operator(s) to undertake said operations, under the licence.
A Licensee can be the Operator or alternatively they can propose the appointment of a third party as the Operator.
The NSTA consult OMAR on the appointment proposals and in turn OMAR considers evidence provided to assess whether the proposed Operator has the capacity to manage the offshore activities, duties, and responsibilities relevant to the proposed appointment.
Last year OMAR issued a survey to industry and the CA, with the aim of helping us gain a better understanding of how our performance in delivering government commitments is perceived.
Overall feedback from the survey indicated that both the regulator and industry agreed that the CA did promote high levels of protection from major accidents for people and the environment (regulator 87% and industry 72% agreeing with the statement).
Following the feedback, we are are taking additional steps to enhance and promote our activities:
- improve communication by issuing ebulletins on a more regular basis, and introducing a yearly workplan to share our progress with the Offshore Major Accident Hazards Advisory Committee (OMAHAC)
- reduce duplication of effort by ensuring where feasible HSE and OPRED undertake joint inspection
- arrange major hazard management reviews (MHMR) by exception and in addition to planned interventions and normal regulatory activity e.g. where concerns in performance are identified or where there is a significant change in organisational arrangements
- explore alternative options for reporting of offshore incidents - however, there will not be any changes in the short term and incidents should still be reported by email using the ROGI form. Should you have any concerns regarding understanding of the detail or the reporting obligations within the form please contact us
The CAP is used by industry and OMAR to manage regulatory submissions made under the 2015 Safety Case Regulations and the amended 1998 Merchant Shipping Regulations.
We recently issued a note to users of the system to establish if there are further changes or improvements they wish OMAR to consider.
Suggestions will be considered by the OMAR Safety Case Advisory Group. To provide your suggestions, please contact us.
SCAG has representation from HSE and OPRED. The group aims to provide guidance and direction to facilitate delivery of the overall safety case assessment process in accordance with our shared commitments, policies, and procedures.
The group audits the effectiveness of current arrangements for the purposes of assurance and continual improvement.
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