Federal regulators today unveiled a suite of online resources they say will help oil and gas companies prepare and track their offshore drilling applications.
The move, by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, follows continued complaints by the oil industry that the permitting process has been slow and sometimes too opaque since last year’s Gulf spill. It dovetails with other steps the bureau has taken, including the rollout in June of a checklist for examining drilling permit applications, meant to help operators get all their paperwork in order.
The new online tools include better tracking options for users of BOEMRE’s eWells application system to monitor the status of permit applications. It offers the promise that operators will know exactly where their applications are in the process at any given time.
The ocean energy bureau also has created a website with fact sheets, checklists and frequently asked questions on how exploration plans can be properly and fully prepared.
BOEMRE Director Michael Bromwich said the new resources should help decrease processing delays and up the odds that operators submit strong, successful applications.
“Our goal is to reduce the amount of back and forth with plan and permit applications and to help the industry learn from the best practices that many operators have developed to submit successful applications,” Bromwich said in a statement. “That will result in higher quality applications in the first instance and reduce the need for them to be returned to operators.”
Bromwich stressed that the agency “will continue to search for additional ways to improve our own processes and make them more efficient.”
The announcement was made at a BOEMRE permitting workshop for offshore operators in its Gulf of Mexico regional office — one of several such forums that have been held since last year’s spill.
The delays just add up to higher costs at the pump. Incompetency? Political stalling? Agenda following? All of the above. Open up drilling and costs will come down. Keep up the good talk while keeping oil from drilling and prices stay high. Time for a change at the top in 2012.