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GeorgiaCaspian Partnership for Regulatory Cooperation
Beginning in FY 1999 with funding from the
U.S. Agency for International Development, MMS is providing technical and policy advice
and assistance to the countries of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Georgia, as they continue
their efforts to implement legislative and regulatory reforms with the long-term goal of
establishing transparent oil and gas regulatory institutions. The experience and
expertise MMS is providing through technical assistance workshops and regulatory
partnerships is designed to help these countries develop and implement regulatory systems
that incorporate modern-day safety and environmental standards.
Activities with Georgia:
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June 1999 -
The USEA CEPI
Environmental Overview
seminar was held in Tbilisi, Georgia on June
10th and 11th. MMS, as a partner, was represented by two employees expert in the overall
MMS program and the environmental issues and analyses associated with offshore oil and gas
activities. Approximately six Georgian participants attended, including government, industry
and NGO representatives. The seminar consisted of presentations by the U.S.
representatives, focusing on the evolution of regulatory practices in the U.S., the common
regulatory objectives onshore and offshore, and methods to achieve these regulatory
objectives. Several issues of concern to the Georgians were identified.
The USEA is now
working with the partnership resource pool to develop partnership activities that will
provide opportunities to address some of these concerns.
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November 1999 - MMS presented an
Overview of an Oil and Gas Regulatory Body: the MMS Model in Tbilisi, Georgia on November
16 - 18. Six representatives from MMS participated. This workshop was similar to the
first technical assistance workshop in Turkmenistan, but was revised to incorporate the
physical and geologic differences of Georgia. We worked closely with Hagler-Bailly in the
regulatory reform efforts and we will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The
Georgian attendees at the workshop comprised the recently established State Agency for the
Regulation of Oil and Gas Resources. In coordination with USAID Caucasus Mission and
Hagler-Bailly, plans were made to return in six months to follow-up and
to offer assistance
to the nascent Agency.
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June 2000
- One MMS official attended and presented
at the Department of Energys Workshop on
Legal and Legislative Issues
Associated with Implementing National and Regional Oil Spill Response Systems in
Tbilisi, Georgia. The workshop was attended by numerous senior officials from both the
Georgian government as well as private and national oil and gas companies active in the
region. The MMS gave a presentation detailing the roles and responsibilities of MMS as well as
other agencies within the U.S. during a spill emergency, and the way in which theoretical
plans can be created and revised to meet the needs of an actual disaster.
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June 2000 - The MMS Pacific Regional Office in Camarillo,
California hosted a seven-member delegation of inspectors and policymakers from the
Georgian State Agency for the Regulation of Oil and Gas Resources (SAROGR). This activity
was carried out under the auspices of USEAs Caspian Environmental Partnership
Initiative with MMS as a federal regulatory partner. The three-day activity presented a
primer of MMSs inspection program as it relates to both drilling and production on
the U.S. Outer-Continental Shelf (OCS). As part of the activity, the delegation was taken
offshore to shadow an MMS inspector on typical inspections of two offshore platforms.
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April 2001
- At the request of the U.S. Department of State and the Meridian International Center, MMS
presented a brief overview of the financial (i.e. economics, budget planning and
execution, and minerals revenue management) aspects of regulating oil and gas to a senior
delegation from the Republic of Georgia. The eight member delegation was composed of
regulators from the State Agency for the Regulation of Oil and Gas Resources (SAROGR),
researchers, journalists, and parliamentarians.
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Last Updated:
11/19/2008,
05:22 PM
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