Vol. 3, Edition 3. December 13, 2010
Welcome
Visser Consulting Ltd. is an integrated Regulatory/Safety consulting company founded in 1994 to serve the Regulatory, Safety and Environmental (RSE) needs of the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry in Western Canada. We provide a complete range of RSE services, including regulatory compliance and all levels of safety services.
You are receiving this quarterly newsletter because you are either a Visser client or have expressed interest in receiving information about Regulatory Compliance in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
Remember to set your EPAP Declaration Date
On December 16, 2009, the ERCB issued Bulletin 2009-45: New ERCB Directive 076: Operator Declaration Regarding Measurement and Reporting Requirements announcing the release of Directive 076, which became effective on January 4, 2010.
In Section 2 of this directive it states that the ERCB will permit operators some latitude in choosing a declaration month that is most convenient for the operator. The ERCB Production Audit Team (PAT) will honor a request for a preferred declaration month if the request is received before the end of the first year following the effective date of this directive or, for a new operator, before the end of the first year of operation. In the absence of a request for a preferred declaration month, the ERCB will assign a month for the operator. Once the operator’s declaration month has been chosen, whether by the operator or by the ERCB, it can be changed only by request in writing to the ERCB. The ERCB reserves the right to approve or deny such a request.
To see the ERCB's recent EPAP declaration date reminder bulletin, click here.
To see more information on ERCB Enforcement Actions, click here.
Visser Consulting to host Pipeline Risk Assessment Decision Making Seminar
In the new year, Visser Consulting will proudly host a Pipeline Risk Assessment Decision Making Seminar, presented by our in-house expert Hong Lu. Hong recently authored a paper on this topic and presented it at the International Pipeline Conference 2010. This paper will be discussed at the seminar.
For more information on this event, contact Brian Hoschka at bhoschka@vcl.ab.ca.
Bill 16 - Distracted Driving Legislation
Driver distraction is a growing traffic safety concern among policy makers and the public. International studies have shown that 20 to 30 percent of collisions involve driver distraction. Alberta has taken a leadership role to address this serious traffic safety issue by recently passing Bill 16- the Traffic Safety (Distracted Driving) Amendment Act, 2010-to help make our roads safer.
To read more information on this Bill, click here.
Regulatory Updates
For information on recent regulatory and environmental updates, click here.
Saskatchewan Energy Resources now requires companies to file their Corporate Emergency Response Plans
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources, Petroleum and Natural Gas Division has recently released changes to their regulations requiring all companies to register their Corporate Emergency Response Plan with them. Visser is working on the existing ERP's and submitting them to SER on your behalf.
The Ministère de la Ressources Naturelles et la Faune of Quebec has also recently changed their requirements for Corporate Emergency Response Plans. Each Company operating or planning to drill in Quebec must submit their ERP to the local authority and the local fire department. Visser Consulting is now writing ERP's for the province of Quebec, and has them available in both french and english, as the requirement is to provide the document in both official languages.