Project Director: Xiaozhi (Christina) Wang

Funding Organization: National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program

Funding Cycles: Safer Offshore Energy Systems 4

Description: Historically, government agencies, industry groups, and companies from around the world have collected offshore incident data to help understand and improve safety conditions. However, these datasets were collected at different times and used different terminology and data languages. This project aims to provide recommendations for viable data science technologies that could be employed to aggregate these disparate datasets, and establish common goals and metrics, to improve understanding of safety risks and trends in the Gulf of Mexico. The desired final product — a comprehensive global offshore incident dataset — will help set a foundation for predictive modeling initiatives. The data could inform government and industry decision-making processes such as permitting emerging technologies, setting new regulations or policies to mitigate risk, and choosing exploration projects.