New Arctic offshore drilling rules require full disclosure

The National Energy Board says applicants looking to drill offshore in the Canadian Arcticwill berequired tomake public their safety, contingency, emergency response and environmental protectionplans, part of new rules released Thursday.

The NEB's new filingprocess follows a review of its requirements for Arctic offshore drilling that was begunin 2010, following the massive BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Filing requirements set out the technical information we will need to see in future applications for offshore drilling in the Canadian Arctic," said NEB chair and CEO Gatan Caron in a press release.

"These new requirements provide clarity to future applicants and to those who will provide input into the boards decision to approve or deny an application for a well in the Arctic."

The board's 53-page report sets out the recommendations for offshore drilling, including responses to oil spills.

Depending on how industry reacts to the report, it could signal a boom or a bust for communities near the Beaufort Sea.

"You've got a couple of billion dollars [of] potential work lined up to go in the Beaufort," said Doug Matthews, a petroleum industry analyst.

"That's a pretty strong committment on the part of the companies. If the conditionsthat the board proposes are considered by industry to be too onerous, proposed activitymight just not happen. And that wouldn't be good for the region."

The board has given industry one of the things it was hoping to seea slight change in its policy on relief wells, whichdivert oil from the main well, stopping the flow of oil into offshore waters.

The NEB said any company wishing to depart from its Same Season Relief Well Policy in a future application for a well would have to demonstratehow they would meet or exceed the intended outcome of the policy, which is to kill an out-of-control well in the same season in order to minimiseimpacts on the environment.

Currently, there is no offshore drilling in Canadas Arctic watersand there are no applications for drilling before the board.

The board says while a number of companies hold exploration licences in the Beaufort Sea, they would need to respond to the newly released filing requirements in their applications.

The NEB is an independent federal agency established in1959 to regulate international and interprovincial aspects of the oil, gas and electric utility industries.