In 2002 the Australian Commonwealth and State/Northern Terriotory (NT) Governments agreed to the formation of a National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) to administer safety in the offshore upstream petroleum industry. Legislation was passed by the Commonwealth in November 2003 establishing a NOPSA. It is proposed that the NOPSA will commence in January 2005.

The issues associated with the development of a NOPSA and managing the transition from the current multi-regulator system to a single National offshore petroleum regulator for safety are immense. An overview of these issues, and the processes are provided in this paper.

Keywords:
spe 86651, national offshore petroleum safety authority, legislation, review team, offshore safety, petroleum industry, independent review team, safety authority, nopsa, safety
Subjects:
HSSE & Social Responsibility Management, Safety, HSSE standards, regulations and codes, Human factors (engineering and behavioral aspects)
Copyright 2004, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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