Eub Regulatory Changes

Abstract The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) welcomes the opportunity to convey information about important regulatory changes to the members of The Petroleum Society. Our organization has many active members in The Petroleum Society. Board staff have participated in and greatly benefitted from the Society's excellent technical forums throughout our long association. Colleagues in both industry and government often comment that today's only constant is change. While this seems true, I would add that it has been true for as long as I can recall. What marks the 1990's are that forces of change increasingly affect business processes once considered stable, core functions and that the pace of change is accelerated. Evolutionary change has been replaced by something more akin to revolution. Since assuming Board Chairmanship in early 1995, I have been pleased to note that Board staff recognize that both in planning and implementing change, consultation is essential. The importance of timely and relevant consultation cannot be overstated. I have also noted that industry and government have shown tremendous good will and commitment in assisting the Board as we re-engineer our business processes. A recent example is the successful focus-testing of our new facilities application form and guide in November 1995. A quick look back at our recent history helps 'set the context for major changes now underway. The recession of the early 1990's provided another round of financial shock therapy for Alberta's public and private sectors. Early in the decade, the Board recognized the gathering forces of industry restructuring and government deficit-fighting. In response, it initiated an organization- wide program of process improvements and budget reductions. The regulatory implications of industry trends and the provincial government's effort to balance the budget added urgency to the EUB's change initiatives. In 1993 1994, the pace of energy industry development accelerated to a record pace. This strained our downsized agency to the limit. Core business processes such as application processing, facility inspection and compliance monitoring came under unprecedented pressure. We recognized that a new approach was essential in order to maintain these core processes. A New Concept for Facility Application Processes As early as 1992, the EUB initiated a review of facility application processes. This early attempt to streamline encountered difficulties because it challenged long-established processes and organizational structures. Concurrent with the peak of industry application activity in 1993 1994, organization-wide EUB restructuring was initiated. This set the stage for process and policy changes that will ultimately require significant adjustments for both the EUB and the energy industry. An early outcome of the restructuring process was the creation of an EUB Facilities Division which unified a number of EUB departments under one umbrella. This division encompasses the EUB core application function for pipelines and production facilities. By unifying departments, the concept of a unified application process gained greater acceptance. It also led to a re-examination of the objectives of application processes. The EUB concluded that an innovative approach to applications could obtain similar or improved results.