The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) was established on 1 January 2012,  and is Australia's first national regulator for health and safety, well integrity and environmental management for offshore oil and gas operations.

NOPSEMA has superseded NOPSA, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority, which was established in Australia in 2005 with a remit to regulate the health and safety of workers on offshore facilities in Commonwealth waters, and in waters where State powers had been conferred.

Following strong recommendations arising from the Final Government Response to the Report of the Montara Commission of Inquiry (2011) and the Productivity Commission Report (2009), Commonwealth Minister for Resources, Energy and Tourism, Martin Ferguson, endorsed the establishment of NOPSEMA as the single, unified national regulator to enforce compliance with offshore safety, well integrity and environmental management across the industry. 

The responsibility to investigate and report on offshore environmental management practices and make recommendations had previously rested with the State and Territory Designated Authorities, however the passing of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (National Regulator) Bill 2011 transferred this duty to NOPSEMA from 1 January 2012.

NOPSEMA effectively consolidates current State, Territory and National regulation for health and safety, structural integrity, environmental plans and day-to-day operations associated with petroleum activities in Commonwealth waters.

History of NOPSA

NOPSA was established under the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Act (1967) and the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) Amendment Act (2003), and began operations on 1 January 2005.

In 1999, the Commonwealth Government commissioned a review of offshore safety in Australia . This was in response to the Government's 1998 commitment to review the offshore safety case regime and Commonwealth concerns over the adequacy of the current regulatory arrangements.  At the time, the States and Northern Territory (NT) carried out day to day offshore petroleum safety regulation using a combination of the safety case approach and prescriptive legislative rules.

The review included an evaluation undertaken by an Independent Review Team (IRT) of offshore safety experts. They were required to assess the effectiveness of the structure and implementation of Australia 's offshore petroleum safety management. The independent review team interviewed operators of facilities, executives and line management, workforce representatives, State/NT regulators and Federal officials.

The final report, titled Future Arrangements for Regulation of Offshore Petroleum Safety [437KB pdf], published in 2001, identified a number of shortcomings in the legislative and administrative structures. It recommended the current framework of laws be revised, and the regulatory system be restructured by establishing a national petroleum safety regulatory authority.

On 13 September 2002 , the Ministerial Council on Mineral and Petroleum Resources (MCMPR) reconfirmed their priority for improving safety in Australia 's offshore petroleum industry. The MCMPR, comprising Ministers with a responsibility for petroleum safety from across Australia , endorsed the formation of an independent national offshore safety authority. An MCMPR Communiqué [101KB pdf] records this decision.

It was agreed at this MCMPR meeting that the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) would not only regulate federal waters, as the IRT recommended, but regulate both Federal and State/NT waters. This was to ensure a consistent regulatory approach for industry across all jurisdictions. NOPSA was accountable to the Commonwealth, State and NT Ministers.

On 22 May 2003 the MCMPR Standing Committee of Officials agreed on a Transitional Plan [73KB pdf] for establishing NOPSA. The Transitional Plan identified NOPSA's role, tasks and guiding principles; project management and government; and human resource strategy.

Creating a New Offshore Petroleum Safety Regulator [270KB pdf] is a paper presented at the Offshore Technology conference held in Houston , Texas , USA on 5-8 May 2003, and provides further background about the establishment of NOPSA.

Background and impetus for change

At 5.30am on 21 August 2009, rumblings at the Montara H1 wellhead in the Timor Sea set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to the Australian offshore petroleum industry's most significant incident in decades.

The Macondo Deepwater Horizon distaster that unfolded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, claimed 11 lives and once again turned the spotlight on high-hazard industries such as offshore oil and gas. The two events, occuring within eight months of each other and drawing intense media and public scrutiny, provided an impetus for change within the Australian petroleum industry, and sparked moves for regulatory reform.

The findings of the Productivity Commission and later, the Montara Commission of Inquiry (report released on June 2010 and the Government's Final Response released on 25 May 2011) highlighted a number of operator, design and regulatory failures, including questions around the resourcing capacity of the Northern Territory Designated Authority to adequately monitor well operations in its jurisdiction, and enforce compliance.

The Montara Commission of Inquiry Report recommended a single, independent regulatory body be responsible for safety as a primary objective, in addition to well integrity and environmental approvals. It proposed that these functions and responsibilities, currently with the State and Territory Designated Authorities (DAs) be allocated to a single governing body.

The Designated Authority (DA)  is the State or Territory body responsible for onshore oil and gas regulation and oversight of coastal waters where powers were not conferred to NOPSA. In the case of the Montara, the DA responsible for well intergirty was the Northern Territory Department of Resources. At the time of the Montara incident, NOPSA had no remit of wells or well activities.

The regulatory regime into the future

The Australian regulatory framework has undergone rapid change to implement recommendations arising from the Government's Final Response into the Montara Commision of Inquiry report and other regulatory investigations.

In April 2011, the Government proceeded with plans to assign NOPSA as the regulator for the Petroleum (Submerged Lands) (Management of Well Operations) Regulations 2004.

On 29 April 2011,  the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 (OPGGSA) was amended to extend NOPSA's functions to include the regulation of well integrity, inlcuding regulatory oversight of well operations management plans and approval of well activities.

In October 2011, the Authority's remit was expanded further, as a result of the passing of the  Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (National Regulator) Bill 2011, which effectively made the Authority the Commonwealth Government's primary regulator for compliance with environmental safety laws on all offshore petroleum facilities located in its waters.

Now, the Authority's role includes regulation of occupational health and safety, wells and well operations, together with regulation of the structural integrity of facilities and environmental management within Commonwealth waters. These additional functions have been reflected in the organisation's change of name from NOPSA to NOPSEMA.

This amalgamation of safety, well management regulation, integrity and environmental management responsibilities into a single regulator called NOPSEMA is expected to reduce regulatory burden on industry and standardise Australia's offshore pteroleum regulation to a quality, best practice model.