March 2018 Technical Luncheon

Abstract:
Some people unfamiliar with petroleum resource operations and people against the use of fossil fuels have and will voice opposition to land access for shale, coal seam and tight reservoir development, if not objecting to all upstream petroleum operations. Some petroleum resource projects pose too much risk to local receptors to be approved without significant special controls, or to be approved. With these and other challenges in mind, successive governments in South Australia have implemented leading practice objective-based (goal-seeking) legislation, regulation, policies and programs – all delivered through a one-stop-shop (lead agency) - to simultaneously gain and sustain trust with the public and investors with regard to land access for trustworthy oil and gas  operations.
To assure both communities and investors having positive experiences and expectations for the outcomes from exploration and production (E&P) investment - government regulators and policy makers should be expected to make unbiased and wise decisions – based on facts and evidence – in the net interest of constituents, and without capture by special interests focused on just a narrow part of the full spectrum of public good. Effective engagement requires respect for, and empathy with people with deeply-felt concerns in relation to proposed land access for oil and gas exploration and production. It is no longer enough for those entrusted to steward a one-stop-shop for oil and gas E&P to be just technically focused. Experience demonstrates that an understanding of cognitive bias is helpful in being empathic during consultation with people potentially negatively affected by oil and gas E&P operations.
This presentation will describe the South Australian State Government’s evolutionary steps towards nirvana for upstream petroleum projects.

Biography:
Barry Goldstein aims to sustain trust with the public and investors in the energy sector. Barry was Exploration Manager - Santos, Chief Geologist - Bridge Oil, and Chief Geologist – KUFPEC after starting with Phillips Petroleum. He has explored and discovered petroleum in the North Sea, Indonesia, Australia, PNG, and South America. He is now a regulator and policy maker. Barry was inducted into the Australian Energy Institute’s Hall of Fame in 2017. He was awarded with an Order of Australia Public Service Medal (2014), APPEA’s Gold Medal - the Lewis G. Weeks Award (2013), PESA’s Distinguished Member Award (2014) and the AAPG’s Distinguished Service Award (2008). Since 2005, Barry represents Australia in the International Energy Agency’s geothermal energy forum and he served on the USA-based Geothermal Resource Council Board (2010-13). He graduated from the University of New York (Bachelors – Geology, 1975) and the University of Missouri (Masters – Geology, 1977). Last, Barry has a sense of humour.