Colville, speaking at the OTC Brasil conference in Rio de Janeiro, said there is “a new paradigm” facing drillers, brought about by the tragic blowout on the semi-submersible Deepwater Horizon and the massive oil spill that ensued on BP’s Macondo field in the US Gulf.

Operations that had been considered “accepted practices” prior to the accident, suddenly became “not good enough”, he said.

“Certainly