The Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI) is a consortium of industry, national labs, non-governmental organizations and academia created to develop the technology and workforce needed for increased energy production that is safer, more sustainable and more cost-effective.
OESI is managed by the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES). The consortium is organized under an agreement between TEES and the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The agreement, announced in May 2021, calls for up to $40 million from the federal government over five years.
In addition to TEES, the consortium involves 16 universities in 10 states, including Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University and the University of Maryland; It also involves the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, several national labs and more than 20 stakeholders representing conventional and renewable energy.
Faisal Khan, director of the Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, is the principal investigator of OESI.
Objectives
Specific objectives of OESI are to:
- Increase the energy security of the United States and enable jobs and increased economic activity through responsible and sustainable ocean energy production.
- Develop knowledge, technologies and training that increase the U.S. ability to produce ocean energy resources safely and sustainably.
- Engage the best technologists, managers, facilities, and standard and policy developers who have the greatest chance to achieve OESI's goals in the most efficient, collaborative environment possible.
