Speaking at the PetroSafe-2016 hydrocarbon safety conference in Jaipur, India this week, M K Surana attributed the main cause of oil and gas industry accidents in the nation to human error. Surana, who is the Chairman and Managing Director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation stated: "Human errors have been a major contributing factor in case of mishappenings in the oil and gas sector. Ignorance, negligence, carelessness and dereliction of duty besides equipment failure have led to incidents and they must be checked. We should learn from mistakes of the past and should not repeat them”

According to a story in the Times of India, as far back as 2014, there were plans in place to create an independent entity to monitor safety issues. The Times story reported that the Oil Ministry was ready for approval from the Cabinet on the creation of a petroleum and natural gas safety board, but there was never any movement on the issue. The matter was not considered under the following government. The Times notes that the issue of gas pricing dominated any energy discussions.

The Times also reported that there were eight different entities pertaining to safety in the oil and gas industry, and that those agencies were created under different laws. Furthermore, they were not connected to one another. The Oil Industry Safety Directorate was tasked with monitoring safety in the industry, but had no real legal power to impose sanctions for violations.

At the Jaipur conference, S Kamal the Chief Controller of the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organization, or Peso, said that his group has “introduced auto-renewal of licenses of petrol pump, petroleum transportation, LPG godowns and filling plants and the facility will be offered for other premises as well in next three months.”

He stated: "It is the first of its kind initiative which will save time of the stakeholders and PESO as well."

Lincoln Brown for Oilprice.com

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