The Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) enacted a new framework for the identification of safety non-conformities in E&P operations, designed to reduce regulatory costs for E&P companies.
Resolution n.º 851/2021 from the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) established a new safety and oversight framework for E&P operations, concerning the identification of safety irregularities by ANP audits, and the subsequent correction by E&P operating companies following specific processes. The resolution was the subject of Public Consultation n.º 4/2021, reported in the 23rd edition of the Regulatory Report.
The new framework replaced ANP Resolution n.º 37/2015’s framework. The main modification covers a shift in E&P operators’ obligations regarding the disclosure of non-conformity adjustments. Instead of regularly submitting evidence of such adjustments, i.e., proving the adoption of mitigation responses to non-conformities audited by ANP, E&P operators must submit that evidence at ANP’s request (articles 7 to 10). According to ANP, the shift is intended to reduce regulatory costs, while achieving the same regulatory outcome.
ANP’s new framework maintained the definition of levels of risk associated with non-conformities, described in the second article. Audited “critical” non-conformities (infractions) may entail the interdiction of operations (article 6), while high-risk (“grave”), medium-risk (“moderada”), and low-risk (“leve”) non-conformities must be corrected within 30, 90, and 180 days, respectively (article 8).
According to ANP, Public Consultation n.º 4/2021 received 133 contributions, whose results are available here.
