The ANP held its XII Operational Safety and Environment Seminar (SOMA) on September 25 and 26, which was part of the parallel programming of ROG.e in Rio de Janeiro. SOMA is the most important annual event for the operational safety of exploration and production (E&P) activities of oil and natural gas in Brazil.

In his opening remarks, the Director-General of ANP, Rodolfo Saboia (photo), highlighted the challenges in regulating and supervising operational safety in the context of increased oil and gas production in Brazil. “The increased scale of production in our industry has been associated with technological innovations, enhancements, and increased technical complexity in the face of challenges for efficient production, with safety and environmental protection. Thus, without a doubt, the ANP's challenge in regulating the safety of E&P activities will require sustained and intensified efforts,” he stated.

According to Saboia, “the ANP includes operational safety and the upstream environment within the strategic objectives of the institution, and seeks to promote increasingly safe and sustainable activities.”

Director Daniel Maia Vieira, currently responsible for the Operational Safety area, delivered an initial talk on the subject. He highlighted, among the 2023 data, the fact that there were no fatalities in offshore operations. “In a complex and high-risk industry, we had zero fatalities. This is extremely positive.”

On the other hand, he pointed out some areas for improvement identified by ANP that the industry should observe. “Among the challenges identified by the Agency related to operational safety, the first is well integrity. The second is the need to use engineering tools that can prove safety. We also perceive the need, after incidents, to evaluate the safety of installations before continuing operations. The fourth point is the importance of integrity management of pipelines and structures. And as a fifth point, the need for greater adherence to the safety philosophy of the installations themselves.”

During the meeting, ANP presented these and other data from the 2023 Annual Operational Safety Report, analyzing the operational safety performance of E&P activities from the previous year. The report will soon be available on the Annual Operational Safety Reports page.

In addition, panels were held addressing various aspects of the topic, such as: decommissioning of installations; new guidelines for decarbonizing E&P activities; hydrogen and operational safety; new socio-environmental criteria for including blocks in the Permanent Offer of Concession; regulatory framework for carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS); among others.