Development of operational standards for arctic oil and gas operations

In recent years oil and gas exploration and development activity has been increasing across many different parts of the circumpolar Arctic, most notably across the Alaskan North Slope, the Beaufort Sea, offshore Newfoundland/Labrador, the Barents Sea, and most recently, offshore Greenland. With Arctic regions containing potentially enormous oil and gas resources and with increasing accessibility and technological improvements, it is widely expected that this activity will only continue to increase in the future. At the same time, it has also been identified that there is a distinct need to develop standards specific to both onshore and offshore Arctic environments given the unique operating conditions in the Arctic and also that no standards specific to these environments yet exist. In order to address this need, in 2012 a subcommittee was established under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee responsible for oil and gas offshore structures (i.e. TC 67). Specifically, ISO TC 67/SC8 has been mandated to develop standards for oil and gas operations in cold climate regions that will help ensure safe and effective Arctic oil and gas operations while also ensuring protection of the environment and the people working and living in these regions. A total of nine countries are participating in ISO/TC 67/SC8, including Canada, Russia, Norway, Great Britain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Kazakhstan, and the United States. Six different working groups have been organized under ISO TC 67/SC8 to develop standards across six distinct areas, including standards dealing with 1) the Arctic working environment, 2) escape, evacuation and rescue procedures, 3) environmental monitoring, 4) ice management, 5) material requirements, and 6) managing physical environmental data. Each working group is progressing through the successive stages of developing the standards, with the standards expected to be published as international standards by 2016 or 2017. Canadian experts are contributing to each working group under ISO TC 67/SC8, with Canada also leading the working group on ice management. Canada has a significant amount of experience with ice management in ice-impacted waters, including off Eastern Canada and Greenland.