A Novel Model for Risk Regulations in the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

Increasing interest from stakeholders has brought about a new emphasis on risk regulation in the oil and gas industry. Our basis for this work is the offshore oil and gas industry, which is composed of major operators, entrepreneurs and contractors working globally, but we focus on Norwegian and US activities. The fundamental strategies, institutions, legal traditions and explanations of regulation are reviewed and, together with empirical data, a novel model with the means of identifying “effective” regulation has been developed. The model presented here incorporates three dimensions: the industry’s intentions; their resources and expertise and trust in the regulator (and vice versa: the regulator’s trust in the industry); and the space where functional respective normative rules are deemed most effective.