The Power of AI in Managing Regulatory and Standards Revisions in the Oil and Gas Industry
By Arnab Ghosh, Senior Technical Expert, Accuris, Accuris
Navigating compliance in the oil and gas industry is a complex and ever-evolving challenge. The sector is heavily regulated, with laws and guidelines from multiple agencies impacting each project. In the United States, nine federal agencies, as well as state and local governments, oversee the industry. Regulations for oil and gas projects change often, typically in response to industry incidents, new political administrations and the introduction of new technologies. Many of these regulations reference engineering standards, which are also frequently revised, adding another layer of complexity for everyone involved in oil and gas operations. The risks of noncompliance are high — injuries, environmental damage, operational shutdowns and fines — making it imperative for companies to stay informed of changes to standards and regulations.
Keep pace with revisions to regulations and standards
In the U.S., a number of organizations create and enforce regulations for the oil and gas industry, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Offshore drilling safety and environmental regulations are enforced by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), which was founded in 2011 in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In recent years, BSEE regulations have been modified to reflect new technologies and changes in political administration. The organization has introduced a new rule related to renewable energy, withdrawn a rule that would have relaxed safety regulations in Arctic offshore drilling, and revised existing regulations for well control and blowout preventer systems.
The well control and blowout preventer systems rule was reviewed with the goal of reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens while ensuring safe and environmentally responsible offshore operations. Standards play an important part in the revision: two requirements were revised to better align with API Standard 53, and the latest edition of API RP 17H was incorporated. These standards are among the five that are incorporated by reference (IBR) in the rule.
Similar to governmental regulations, engineering standards are periodically reviewed and revised by their publishers. The American Petroleum Institute (API), which has developed more than 800 standards for the industry, reviews each standard every five years. However, not every standard is updated during the five-year revision cycle – some are updated more often and some are not updated at all. Consider API Standard 53 and API RP 17H. There are five editions of API Standard 53, published in 1978, 1984, 1997, 2012 and 2018. The first edition of API RP 17H was published in 2004, with new editions published in 2013 and 2019.
Every time a standard or regulation is updated, like the five IBR standards in the BSEE well control and blowout preventer rule, operators must review the changes and ensure that they are still in compliance. For large-scale, multi-year projects like offshore drilling or pipeline construction, this is no small task.
Stay informed and compliant with AI
The ripple effect of regulatory and standards changes can have a huge impact on businesses across the oil and gas industry. Keeping up with changes to regulations from multiple agencies and changes to the standards referenced within regulatory documents requires careful attention to updates from each regulatory body and SDO. Given the sheer number of regulations and standards required for each project, this can be a daunting task.
AI can help engineers, compliance/quality managers and corporate librarians manage these changes. Instead of relying on an SDO to announce changes to standards, AI tools like MicroAlerts can alert engineers when sections of a standard are changed or when a new version is available. With AI tools like Smart Compare Premium, engineers can compare two editions of a standard side-by-side and see exactly what was changed. These tools remove the manual effort involved in keeping track of updates to multiple standards and allow engineers to quickly understand how a standard has changed, making it easier to comply with regulations.
Staying informed and proactive in the evolving landscape of today’s oil and gas industry is critical. Learn more about how AI can help your business make better, more informed decisions faster.
