The oil and gas industry is committed to the protection of people and the environment. Prevention of incidents is of primary importance to meet safety and environmental goals, support global reputation, maintain shareholder confidence, and essential for maintaining a license to operate. Some characteristics of the Arctic operating environment require additional consideration compared to more established offshore regions; however, wherever the industry operates, safety of people and protection of the environment takes priority over all else in the business. The oil and gas industry believes it has the right tools to operate in many Arctic provinces today, but also recognizes the need for continuous focus to improve operating practice (e.g., safety and reliability) and to extend safe practice into more demanding operating conditions. A key success factor in driving this advancement is collaboration. This collaboration comes in the form of both industry working together, and industry working with regulators, private and public stakeholder groups. This paper focuses on advancement initiatives and efforts under the auspices of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) 1 and places them into the Arctic context. These initiatives include development of new technology, equipment, guidelines, standards, as well as knowledge sharing. The initiatives are aimed at both improving incident prevention and the robustness of response measures.

The ‘Frontier Arctic’ offshore has been explored on and off since the 1970s, driven by oil price and areas open for leasing or licensing. While a widespread, future return is questionable, operators contemplating a return can benefit from past experience. Insight and perspective are provided on the technical and non-technical challenges and impact on the business challenge. Actions and opportunities to change the overall cost and non-technical business risk dynamic are discussed. ‘Frontier Arctic’ oil and gas resources have characteristics of 1) being located outboard of established offshore regions of oil and gas exploration and development, 2) having physical attributes of water depth and ice conditions that require the use of specialized equipment or measures to safely and cost effectively drill, and 3) having non-technical business risks with the potential for high business consequences. This loose definition includes much of the Alaskan Arctic, the Canadian Beaufort Sea, Greenland, the far northern Barents Sea, and much of the Russian shelf. The technical and non-technical issues associated with exploration drilling in these regions are well-established, but not necessarily well-integrated. ‘Frontier Arctic’ exploration drilling can be safely, responsibly, and reliably executed. The principal challenges are cost to address both routine operations and emergency response preparedness and and non-technical business risk. The required solutions to address these challenges and business risks lead to a layering of complexity and cost that increase exploration drilling costs multifold over competing oil and gas investment opportunities and require significant and sustained commitments of financial, organizational and people resources to achieve business success. Furthermore, ‘Frontier Arctic’ opportunities cannot be turned on at will and require significant planning and preparation and associated lead time. Interest in ‘Frontier Arctic’ exploration may be rekindled in the future depending upon commodity prices; however, the ability to make material cost changes are limited due to the nature of the technical challenge; and the "Frontier Arctic’ will likely remain a target for environmental activism. Furthermore, exploration drilling would need to take place now or in the reasonably near future if ‘Frontier Arctic’ resources are to have a chance of contributing to a future oil or gas supply shortfall. Notwithstanding, Arctic offshore exploration can be expected to continue in regions where cost and business risk can be managed such as the southern Barents Sea and nearshore Alaska Beaufort Sea region.

The Arctic Response Technology Joint Industry Programme (ART JIP) was completed in 2017. The research program focused on priority areas where new research and technology development had the best chance of significantly advancing in the near future, the capability to respond to spills in the presence of ice as well as in open water. Research topics were chosen to encompass all the key elements of an integrated offshore response system: In Situ Burning, Dispersants, Remote Sensing, Environmental Effects, Trajectory Modelling, and Mechanical Recovery. The ART JIP was initiated by nine oil and gas companies and the work executed by leading scientific, engineering, and consulting firms across the globe. The research consolidated a vast amount of existing knowledge in these six key areas to provide a robust and more accessible baseline for future regulators, users and industry representatives concerned with assessing, approving, planning, executing and providing oversight to ensure safe Arctic drilling and production programmes in the future. The scientific research added a significant new knowledge base to the existing peer-reviewed literature on oil spill impacts, herders and burning, dispersants, remote sensing and trajectory modelling. With this new information, these tools can more confidently take their place as response strategies alongside traditional methods such as mechanical recovery. As a result of past efforts and now the ART JIP, a range of operationally proven tools is available to suit specific regional environments, seasons, drilling and production programmes. A fundamental objective of the ART JIP was to make all results from the research effort publicly available. The results, findings, and strategic implications have been extensively documented and the results can be found on the ART JIP's legacy website, conference proceedings, and journals.