After Deepwater: Safety in U.S. Waters

Feb. 2 Event Brings Regional Director of Bureau of Safety Environmental Enforcement To Campus to Discuss National Focus on Offshore Drilling and Safety

Published on January 24, 2012

The safety of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico received national attention in 2010 when a blowout on the Deepwater Horizon rig caused an explosion that killed 11 workers and caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

The C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston will host a speaker on Feb. 2 who is charged with leading a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior that works to promote safety, protect the environment and conserve offshore resources through regulatory oversight and enforcement.

Lars Herbst, the regional director of the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region Bureau of Safety Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), will speak in a Bauer EMBA and Global Energy Management Institute event open to the community from 6-8 p.m. Feb. 2 on campus in Cemo Hall, discussing safety in U.S. waters.

In addition to its regulatory and enforcement role, the BSEE operates a National Training Center with specially developed curriculum focusing on keeping their experienced inspectors current on new technologies and processes and ensuring that their new inspectors are given the proper foundation for carrying out their duties rigorously and effectively.

Feb. 2, 2012
Lars Herbst
Regional Director
Gulf of Mexico OCS Region Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement U.S. Department of the Interior

Lars Herbst is the Regional Director for the Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), U.S. Department of the Interior, in New Orleans, LA. As the Regional Director, Herbst supervises the regulation of operations, the inspection and enforcement program, and the protection and safety of activities and the environment on OCS leases for oil, gas and other mineral development which involve 3,200 platforms in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. He manages a staff of 350, which includes petroleum engineers, structural engineers, geologists, geophysicists, and environmental scientists.

Herbst began his federal career with the former Minerals Management Service in 1983 as a staff engineer in the Gulf of Mexico OCS Region’s Technical Assessment Unit. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Louisiana and holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from Louisiana State University.