Safety
A safety success
The message is getting out: A commitment to safety, health, and the environment is not peripheral to corporate success; it is central. As we’ve learned at ExxonMobil, when you focus on the well-being of workers, customers, communities and the environment, the business results follow. To help spread this message, we are proud to be the founding supporter of the National Safety Council’s annual Robert W. Campbell Award …
Industry and government officials discuss oil spill response capabilities
The U.S. Departments of Interior and Energy co-hosted a forum last week on deepwater blowout containment, and our chairman and CEO, Rex Tillerson, spoke at the event with other government and industry representatives. It was a welcome opportunity to reflect on the response to the tragic Deepwater Horizon accident and spill and clear up some public misperceptions.
A structure for safety
As the discussion about the Deepwater Horizon tragedy turns from immediate response to long-term solutions, many Americans are asking how we can continue to develop the oil and natural gas we all need while ensuring the safety of people, communities and the environment. It’s an important discussion, and it goes to the heart of the oil and gas industry’s role in our economy and society.
Offshore drilling safety news items
Here are a couple quick news items related to offshore drilling safety that I thought you might be interested in. Yesterday’s USA Today featured a report from Julie Schmit, who visited our Hoover Diana offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Also, our vice president of engineering, Sara Ortwein, led an industry review of our recently announced rapid-response oil spill containment system during a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hearing yesterday in New Orleans.
A new safety system for the Gulf
Today, we announced a new rapid-response oil containment system that ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell plan to build for the Gulf of Mexico. The system – involving a $1 billion initial commitment from the sponsor companies — is unprecedented in our industry. It will provide pre-engineered, constructed, and tested containment technology and equipment to be deployed within 24 hours of a spill in the Gulf.
The Blackbeard well
A couple weeks ago, I talked about our Operations Integrity Management System and how we use it to manage safety and risk at our operations worldwide. Today, The New York Times ran a story that’s an example of how we put that system to work in managing risks related to drilling. The story features our experience in drilling a well called Blackbeard offshore Louisiana.
