On May 15, 2025, the Board of Directors of the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels ("ANP") approved precedent statements on integrity management in exploration and production units, with the aim of preventing incidents such as leaks, fires and explosions.
Precedent statements, as provided for in Law No. 13,655/2018, aim to guide the judgment of administrative proceedings, reinforcing the ANP's position on the interpretation of its resolutions and ordinances (in this case, Article 4 of ANP Ordinance No. 159/2023), in order to ensure the uniform application of a given rule.
The four hypotheses classified as Serious and Imminent Risk ("SIR") situations by the ANP are:
- Absence of inspections for an element (piping, system, equipment, or structure) that contains, or supports an inventory of, a hazardous fluid (flammable, toxic or asphyxiating) or critical system (e.g., fire-fighting network, hazardous drainage, or inert gas);
- The use of visual inspection techniques to set the deadlines for the Technical Inspection Recommendations, without quantitative measures to support the calculation of remaining lifespan, when there is evidence of accentuated degradation of an element that contains, or supports an inventory of, hazardous fluids or critical systems;
- Repairs performed without properly following the best engineering practices on an element that contains or supports a hazardous fluid or critical system inventory; and
- Failure to apply Passive Fire Protection (PPCI) when repairing an element containing or supporting a hazardous fluid inventory or critical system.
The precedent statements have been made available on the ANP's website and published in the Federal Official Gazette.
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