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Mineral Resources Management Division — Program and Project Updates

Safety Audit Program

• View the Safety Audit Presentation (pdf) given at the State Lands Commission Meeting, January 30, 2002 (If you have trouble downloading this file you may contact us for a copy.)

The California State Lands Commission established a Safety Audit Program within the Mineral Resources Management Division (MRMD) in 2000 to conduct comprehensive engineering safety audits of oil and gas producing facilities impacting State tidelands. The Program Objectives are to ensure that each company has a comprehensive safety and environmental program and that each facility is designed, maintained, and operated in a manner compliant with current industry codes, regulations, and best achievable protection.

Benefits:

• Modernization of the facility's safety system design.
• Assurance of complete compliance with safety standards and regulations.
• Improvement of maintenance and training programs.
• Upgrading of the Operator's safety culture and safety management systems.
• Provision of a guideline for re-engineering the MRMD monthly inspection program.
• Improvement of existing MRMD monthly Inspection Program.
  

Results:

MRMD has completed safety and environmental audits of three oil and gas facilities: Platform Holly (Santa Barbara County) with County Agencies and Venoco in1999; Rincon Island (Ventura County) with Rincon Island Limited Partnership in 2000; and the Long Beach Unit-Preliminary Audit (Los Angeles County) with Paragon Engineering Services, and City of Long Beach/ARCO/ THUMS in 2000. As a result of these Safety and Environmental Audits, Operators have made significant improvements of safety systems and procedures and equipment reliability in these facilities show significant improvements in safety culture.

Current:

The Safety Audit Group will complete the Long Beach Unit Comprehensive Audit with the City of Long Beach/ Occidental Petroleum/THUMS in early 2002 and the follow-up tracking throughout 2002. The Operator and Field Contractor have demonstrated an aggressive approach in correcting action items while the Audit is ongoing.

Future:

Future Safety and Environmental Audits include: Platform Emmy and Huntington Beach Strip (Orange County) with AERA Energy in 2002; Platforms Esther and Eva and Ft Apache (Orange County) with Nuevo Energy and Torch Operating Company in 2002/2003; and West Wilmington Operating Areas (Los Angeles County) with City of Long Beach and Tidelands Oil Production Company in 2003/2004.