Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

N O V E M B E R

2 0 1 1

NEWSLETTER
IN THIS EDITION

NOGEPAs Natural Gas Symposium,

29 September 2011,
Louwman Car Museum, The Hague

The International Regulators Forum

(IRF) at Stavanger

Offshore Energy 2011

More intense Emergency

Response Training for OIMs

NOGEPA Guidelines

Emergency Response Table Top

Jelto Terpstra

After the opening address by NOGEPAs Secretary-General

Bram van Mannekes, Jeroen van der Veer, who represented
the Energy Top Sector, gave a speech on the expectations
of the energy sector, including conclusions and findings
of the Top Sector. In his motivating speech, he offered
an extensive discussion of concepts such as innovation,
cooperation, communication and challenges that need to
be met in the current and future energy climate.

NOGEPA, the Netherlands

Oil and Gas Exploration and
Production Association
Bezuidenhoutseweg 27-29
P.O. Box 11729
2502 AS The Hague
Phone: +31 70 3478871
Fax: +31 70 385123
E-mail: info@nogepa.nl

NEWSLETTER

Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

NOVEMBER

2011

NOGEPAs Natural Gas Symposium, 29 September 2011,

Louwman Car Museum, The Hague
This first part was followed by a presentation
from Erik van Engelen, Director of Green
Gas Netherlands. In a lively and original
presentation, he addressed the room to
discuss the energy mix in the year 2030 and
a possible green contribution.
To start a debate involving participation by
the audience, the floor was given to Henk
Duyverman from Quadrilla and Johan Atema
from NAM to illustrate their respective
experiences with social acceptance.

Erik van Engelen: 2030 = 3 billion Nm3

green gas in Dutch energy mix.

After lunch, Diederik Samsom of the Dutch

Labour Party, outlined his vision in a very
personal and emotive way. His starting point
was not the discussion surrounding energy
itself, but rather the answers we will have
to give our children in 2030 when they ask
us how we managed the actual debate in
relation to climate and environment.
This first session of the afternoon was
followed by a presentation by Berend
Scheffers representing EBN. He stressed the
importance of gas for the Netherlands and for
society, and offered some recommendations
on how the industry can continue to make
a significant contribution to meeting the
future energy demand.

Jeroen van der Veer:

NOGEPA should be more
pro-active and take an
overarching role.

Before a debate that actively involved the

audience, Erik Lysen, former Managing
Director of the Centre for Energy research
(UCE) at Utrecht University set out the
emotional questions relating to the public
acceptance of energy developments.

Diederik Samsom: What do we tell our

children in 2030 about the results of our
energy discussions of today?

The day was concluded by NOGEPAs Chair,

Gilbert van der Brink, and ended with a tour
of the museum and drinks.
As last year at Madurodam, the event opened
and concluded with a live Aardgas Update as
shown on www.aardgas-update.nl.

Berend Scheffers: The E&P

industry has to do deal with an
increasing demand of natural gas.

NEWSLETTER

Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

The International Regulators Forum

(IRF) at Stavanger

NOVEMBER

2011

Gert-Jan Windhorst

On 4 and 5 October,
the International
Regulators Forum
(IRF) held a summit
meeting in Stavanger
dedicated to examining
how the worlds
offshore exploration
and production and
related industries
have responded to the
Montara and Macondo
incidents.
Some 200 people participated, while many
more were on the waiting list. Among the
attendees were Gilbert van de Brink, Excom
chairman, Reidar Hustoft from Dana, Gerard
Schut from Chevron, and Gert-Jan Windhorst,
secretary at Nogepa.
The Dutch State Supervision of Mines (SODM)
participated through the NSOAF (North Sea
Offshore Authorities Forum) and IRF, while
NOGEPA participated as NOIA (North Sea
Operators Industries Association) through
the OGP (International Association of Oil and
Gas Producers).
The first day was dedicated to reporting
the responses from governments and trade
unions, while the second day addressed more
specific technical subjects, such as BOP and
well control , the observance
of standards
and safety
culture.
In a joint presentation
together with Oil and Gas
UK and OLF (the Norwegian
Oil Industry Association),
Nogepa reported on the
improvement actions that
have been put in place and, in
some cases, are still ongoing.
The threat of additional
layers of government in the
EU
administration were
also addressed. Throughout
the years, the northwest
European offshore E&P
industry has proven that even
with cultural differences and
differing legal systems , it has

still managed to develop and maintain high

standards of safety in its operations. Although
the countries did this independently, they also
ensured that they cooperated and learned
from each other where possible.
A central regulatory body would probably
destroy what has already been established.
Instead of the central option , the industry has
volunteered to support the government in
southern European areas with less developed
systems, subject to the precondition that
properly staffed (in terms of competence and
staff numbers) local organisations are set up.
On both days, round table discussions were
held to distil ideas on how to improve the
industry and regulators over time. Common
themes were
standards improvement,
training and competence ( both for the
industry and regulators), but the subject of
a social licence to operate was also raised
during the discussions.

Gert-Jan Windhorst, Secretary Operations and

H&S, addressed the room on the improvement
actions that have been put in place.
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Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

Offshore Energy 2011

The Offshore Energy
Exhibition & Conference,
which was held on
11 & 12 October at RAI in
Amsterdam, created an
excellent opportunity for
the Offshore industry to
meet, to network and to
take note of technological
developments.

NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER

2011

Cees van Oosterom

Working together
Under the chairmanship of George
Galloway, the drilling and wells cluster of
the NOGEPA/ IRO/ IADC/ NVDO Industry
Day held an afternoon conference with a
varied programme. Ruud Zoon, Managing
Director of GDF SUEZ kicked off the meeting
by setting the challenge to create a safe
place to work for drilling and to effectively
drill and complete wells by working
together as an industry in which its various
skills and competencies are represented.
Ruud Zoon, Managing Director of GDF SUEZ
Standard Bridging Document
George Galloway had made a selection of kicked off the meeting
the topics that the drilling & wells cluster
had been working on. A standard bridging and what we should work on to address
document has been developed to help these challenges. Gert-Jan Windhorst
define the responsibilities and roles of both of NOGEPA wrapped up the meeting by
the Operator, the Drilling Contractor and summarising what the drilling and wells
the Service Contractors involved in drilling cluster should be focusing its efforts on :
and completing a well. This document is Continued development of the Bridging
currently being tested by both Chevron
Document
and Dana. Work has also been progressing Correct preparation of the work
on a web-based version of the document. Training & Competence
George Galloway also presented round-up Drilling the well on paper
of the Scenario Based Well Control Training, Control Management of Change/
which was developed in cooperation with
Deviations from the drilling programme
the International Well Control Forum
(IWCF) to provide training in handling
In short: improve the preparation of
unexpected events during the drilling of a
activities and communication skills.
well. The pilot course, which was held at
NAMs Simwell facilities in Schoonebeek, NOGEPA had a combined booth with IRO
was highly rated by those who attended.
(the Association of Dutch Suppliers in the
Oil and Gas Industry). Chevron, GDF SUEZ,
Challenges and opportunities
NAM and Total were also present with a
Dave McKellar of Dana Petroleum gave shared booth.
an introduction into the successful Van
Ghent trilateral well that Dana has recently
drilled and completed. Bram Leerdam of
Noble Drilling gave a presentation entitled
Together Achieving Safety & Operational
Excellence Offshore. He showed the
complications that need to be overcome
when confronted with the multitude of
standards and regulations in the various
sectors of the North Sea when working for
a variety of Operators. David Price of the
IWCF gave a presentation on Post-Macondo
Well Training. Poster presentations were
also set up around the room. A world caf
brainstorming session was held to consider
the challenges our drilling industry faces
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Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

More intense Emergency

Response Training for OIMs

NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER

2011

Cees van Oosterom

One of the lessons

learned from the
Macondo well incident
is that offshore staff
need to be well-trained
in handling major
emergencies on their
installations. For this
reason, NOGEPA has
encouraged Falck Nutec
to further develop the
emergency response
training for OIMs at their
Maasvlakte facilities.
This type of intensive
training has already been
available for some time
in the UK and our aim is
The practical training will include command
that this course will be MoMe
equivalent to the training Falck Nutec have now produced a curriculum centre simulations, which will reproduce
provided in the UK. for this course in the Management of all of the following scenarios: injured
Major Emergencies (MoMe). NOGEPA now
intends to add this course to its training
handbook. This training course is primarily
intended for the OIMs on larger offshore
installations which would normally dispatch
emergency response teams (fire fighting &
rescue) from a control room, for instance.
The basic training course is planned to last
four days.
During the four days, the OIM will be
trained to:
Lead a well trained emergency response
organisation
Assess the situation and conduct
appropriate information management
during an emergency
Take effective action and delegate tasks
during an emergency
Maintain effective communications,
both internally and externally
Maintain a state of readiness and
emergency preparedness
Deal with his own stress in that of
others
Manage various relevant internal and
external resources

personnel, multiple casualties, missing

personnel, loss of containment, hampered
or loss of communications, loss of means
of evacuation, stressed or incapacitated
key personnel.
Upon completion of the four day course,
a formal assessment is required to obtain
the certificate from this course. During
the assessment, the candidate will be
exposed to three different major calamities
which he or she will have to deal with.
The assessment will be performed by an
independent assessor, by someone from
the operator who the OIM works for and
by the MoMe trainer.
NOGEPA attaches great value to the
skills of handling major emergencies on
platforms and drilling rigs on the Dutch
Continental Shelf and believes that after
a transition period of two years, all OIMs
on installations on the Dutch Continental
Shelf will have successfully completed the
assessment.

Netherlands Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Association

NOGEPA Guidelines
On NOGEPAs website,
three new guideline
documents and one
revised guideline
document are now
available from the
download centre.

Gilbert van den Brink

undersigned the NOGEPA
Guidelines on behalf of the
Executive Committee...

The three new guidelines have been

developed in our drive towards continuous
improvement. This process was accelerated
by the tragic events at the Macondo well in
the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Following this
disaster, NOGEPA completed the following
documents:
Industry Guideline 41
- Well Construction Process Checklist
- Drilling Best Practices
Industry Guideline 42 - Well Plan Review
- Well Examination Scheme for
The Netherlands
Industry Guideline 43 - Surface BOP
Review
- Best Practices Checklist
In addition, Industry Guideline 14 - Helideck
Operations and Procedures Manual
was revised to comply with the ongoing
developments of helicopter flying on the
Dutch Continental Shelf, to incorporate the
latest helideck inspection checklist and other
relevant helicopter-related matters. This

NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER

2011

Cees van Oosterom

manual is used to train Helicopter Landing

Officers (HLOs) and serves as a reference
document for HLOs on offshore installations
on the Dutch Continental Shelf.

... and Rob Happ on behalf of the Operations

Committee.

Emergency Response
Table Top Exercise
Our industry, together with the Dutch
authorities, is organising an offshore
table top emergency exercise on 17
November 2011. The exercise will
be hosted by GDF SUEZ.
The ultimate idea is that by
practising our joint response
to an emergency situation,
we will be better prepared
for a real emergency in
the unlikely event that
one would occur. During
the course of preparations
for the exercise and in
our review of lessons that
can be learned from our
response, we will also be able
to identify what gaps have to be

filled between the emergency response plans

of the Dutch authorities and the offshore E&P
industry.
The lessons we learn from the exercise will
serve as input for a live offshore exercise
which will be conducted in the second quarter
of 2012. This exercise will be hosted by NAM.
Our industry is committed to its responsibility
to conduct its operations in a prudent manner.
A proficient and professional emergency
response is part of our commitment, no
matter how small the chance that an
emergency could occur.

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liable for any inaccuracies, omissions, or errors whether in respect of the information provided in the e-mail newsletter. The information
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