bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Case Study of Greenhouse Gas Emission Measurements and Reduction Potential Evaluation during Oil & Gas Production in China
Authors: Weng Yibin , Xue Ming , Cui Xiangyu
Published: April 2018

The reduction of greenhouse gas emission in oil and gas production could bring several benefits including energy conservation, cost reduction and economic returns. The direct emission measurements and reduction potential evaluation is the prerequisite to achieve an effective reduction goal on greenhouse gas emission. Based on the survey of production processes and related parameters, a series of greenhouse gas emission sources were identified and measured. The emission sources including production processes, leakage-prone facilities such as dehydrator, boilers, heaters, associated gas treatment plant, light hydrocarbon recovery unit, storage tank, and gas flaring were measured. A series of leakage detection and measurement instruments were applied as well, such as Hi-Flow™ Sampler, impeller flowmeter, Bascom-Turner gas sentry and gas flow probes, etc. Based on the measured emission data, a simulation model was then used to evaluate the specific forms, sources and the reduction potentials of the greenhouse gases. The measured greenhouse gas emissions showed that: evaporation and flashing losses from storage tanks were the largest source, accounting for 86% of the total methane emission, and 42% of the total greenhouse gas emissions. The contribution of methane emissions from heaters and boilers during incomplete combustions was less than 1% of the total methane emissions, and about 16% of the total greenhouse gas emissions. When controlling technology on storage tank losses was applied, methane emission could be reduced by 81.7%, and the greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 39.9%. Furthermore, such controlling technologies also presented substantial economic benefits through the recovery of fuel gas. In this study, the recovery potential of various greenhouse gas emission sources were analyzed. In addition, a preliminary cost-benefit analysis was performed per the emission categories, reduction potentials, and the feasibility of reduction technologies. Finally, the probability on the application of such reduction technologies were evaluated.
Well Integrity Life Cycle
Authors: Gouda Mohamed Hassan , Aslam Ismail
Published: April 2018

Have we learned from historical major incidents in the industry?

We are working in a learning organisation equipped with structures and procedures to ensure that lessons from major incidents are incorporated as organisational changes. The following lessons were captured; apply HSE case regime; adapt process safety concept to drilling operations; create and sustain well integrity throughout the entire well life cycle and choose the right leading and lagging indicators to measure and promote continuous improvement.

The heart of these lessons learnt are to establish a process of managing the major accident hazard risks throughout well life cycle. In effect, identify hazards, define safety critical elements, develop performance standards and establish the assurance and verification process. Ultimately, the records of these steps have been demonstrated in safety case document. All steps have been monitored, tracked and audited through the Well Integrity Management System (WIMS). In execution, the conducted program was an assessment of our current situation, taking into account lessons learnt from historical major incidents, close gaps and sustain performance. The deployment was conducted through four distinct phases: Assess, Define, Intervene, and Sustain.

The outcomes of execution of the program in our wells stock are managing and preserving well integrity throughout well life cycle phases rather than operation phase only; the percentage of non-healthy wells are reduced from 25% in 2013 to 5% in 2015; all contracted rigs have verified HSE Cases; new well integrity measures are applied. Moreover, all are contained, tracked and audited in WIMS.

The application of WIMS combines technical, operational and organizational barriers to prevent the uncontrolled flow of fluids to the surrounding environments or across subsurface formations throughout well life cycle.
Desalination of Produced Water of Asab Oil Field Abu-Dhabi to Enhance its Oil Recovery and Water Injectivity
Authors: Khurshid Ilyas , Hossain Md Monwar , Alraeesi Abdulrahman , Fares Ameera , Albalushi Fatima , Alhammadi Amina
Published: April 2018

Produced water is the largest waste stream generated in oil and gas industries. It is a mixture of different organic and inorganic compounds. Global produced water production is estimated at around 280 million barrels per day compared with around 97 million barrels per day of oil. As a result, water to oil ratio is around 3:1 that is to say; water cut is 70%. Due to the increasing volume of waste all over the world in the current decade, the outcome and effect of discharging produced water on the environment has lately become a significant issue of concern. In certain fields like Asab oil field Abu Dhabi UAE, the produced water is re-injected in the field through injection wells. However, it is found that the concentration of salt in injected formation water in Asab field is 150,000-262,000 ppm and this high saline water is injected in the reservoir. Where it may cause severe formation damage: pore plugging, water injectivity and oil productivity problems. Our objective is to develop a cost effective technique to reduce the salinity of this produced water to control formation damage.

We used a couple of chemicals/reagents to reduce the salinity of injected water in Asab field, to increase oil recovery and minimize formation damage such physico-chemical and/or pore blockage. This research examines the sources, characteristics, and extent of different chemicals specially fatty acids and different other techniques that can be used to reduce the salinity of water because no single technology can meet suitable effluent characteristics, thus two or more treatment systems might be used in series operation. However, we were successful to reduce the salinity of brine to approximately 64-74%, where it can be re-injected into the reservoir with minimum formation damage and maximum injectivity.
Use of Unmanned Aerial Systems Reduces HES Risks
Authors: Hoffmann Rob , McAllister Ian
Published: April 2018

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are lightweight, low-cost aircraft platforms operated from the ground which can be outfitted with imaging or non-imaging payloads (‘drones’). UAS offer Health Environment and Safety (HES) professionals a promising opportunity to reduce health, environmental and safety risks by keeping people out of harm's way, reducing exposure to potential health hazards, and for performing non-invasive surveys of ecological features.

A certified operator and unit were retained in the field full-time to support a greenfield gas development in a rugged, remote area. Ready access to a UAS provided timely data to inform field decision making. "If in doubt, put the drone up" became a common phrase in the field, affirming the value of UAS imagery as an information-providing and risk-mitigating tool during site development. UAS collected the data and information that would have otherwise put people on aerial work platforms, in helicopters or on the ground in remote, rugged locations, avoiding thousands of safety-critical workforce hours.

UAS were employed to perform reconnaissance, monitoring and data collection for a wide range of HES applications: Safety: reconnaissance of potential high-consequence situations (landslides, road washouts, avalanche assessment) and access to difficult locations (stack and powerline inspections, landfill slope stability assessment)Environmental: non-invasive environmental monitoring of wildlife (raptor nests, large mammals) and environmental features (marine eelgrass, forest)Health: hazardous materials (hazmat) surveys of legacy facilities to support decommissioning (asbestos-containing roofing materials)

In addition to enabling information-based decision-making in the field by providing real-time imagery, UAS visually conveyed information that was useful for communicating with stakeholders and regulators. This paper will demonstrate that onsite UAS can provide timely, cost-effective information and reduce HES risks in the field by replacing the human element for some safety-critical tasks.
Barrier-Based Approach in Monitoring Risk Reduction Measures Associated with Major Accident Scenarios
Authors: Aberenika P. T. , Wokomah A. L. , Anozie I. A.
Published: April 2018

This paper describes an approach adopted in monitoring Safety Critical Barriers (SCBs) associated with oil and gas production in Total's AKPO Floating Production and Storage Offloading (FPSO) facility located in OML 130 offshore Nigeria. The scenario-based Technological Risk Assessment study of AKPO FPSO provides a catalogue of major risks, with risk reduction measures developed into standard safety barriers and in some cases incorporated into existing barriers to improve their reliability. There are a total number of 366 SCBs being monitored using the approach described in this paper.

The status of SCBs described as"Very Good", "Good", "Fair"or "Poor"is determined by systematically aggregating the test and maintenance results of relevant equipment items (functional locations), as well as results from audit checks of operational and management activities of the SCBs. The status of SCBs, so determined, is quantified and used to determine the risk portrait of the installation.

Over 8,500 functional locations are linked to barriers based on their potential to contribute towards the control of one or more of the fourteen major accident scenarios identified from the major risk study. Test and maintenance records from UNISUP (Unified Information System for Upstream) are exported to a visual risk assessment tool for aggregation, based on a pre-set logic, to determine the status of SCBs that are dependent on equipment items. The application of this methodology enables the timely identification of barrier defects at the level of functional locations for a given safety critical equipment.

The visual risk management tool deployed for the implementation of this process has proven to be of great benefit: i) diagrammatic view of potential accident path; ii) quick identification of failing barriers; iii) estimation of extent of failures in barriers; iv) understanding of the criticality of barriers in relation to a potential accident path; v) dynamic profiling of risks based on changes in barrier status.

The implementation of this methodology contribute to savings in resources spent on safety inspections and audits by leveraging the information provided on the status of the barriers to determine the best approach and areas to assess during such exercises. In addition, records such as number of unavailable barriers per period, frequency of barrier failures etc can be obtained and used as metrics to determine Integrity Management performance on an operating facility.
Contract Safety Pre-Qualification; Experience in a Reactive Safety Culture Environment
Authors: Ezeaku Emeka
Published: April 2018

Objectives/Scope

With increasing number of new entrants in the Nigerian Oil & Gas industry, there has been a visible challenge with Contract Safety Pre-qualification management, often leading to poor quality service delivery, increased cost, lost business time, incidents, contract cost/time variations, etc.

This paper is an attempt to further improve on safety of personnel and asset as well as increase productivity via improved HSE and Supply Chain processes during Contract Pre-qualification exercises.

Methods, Procedures, Process

Experience from various organizations in Nigeria were analyzed viz-a-viz review of existing Safety Management System and Supply Chain delivery strategies.

Attempt is also made to identify common Contract Safety Pre-qualification challenges/gaps and to proffer strategies that could help organizations improve Contract Safety Pre-qualification processes.

HSE Management System performance of selected organizations were reviewed using internal & external Audit outcomes and other indicators as yard sticks. Extents of HSE and Supply Chain process interface benchmarked with leading and lagging indicators such as; 1Cost & Time variation for contracts2Rate of Reworks3Number of Incidents (including Near Misses).

Results, Observations, Conclusions

Effective delivery of Oil & Gas Contracts is largely dependent on efficient Safety Management. Contracts are the key means by which known and unknown, wanted and unwanted risks come into an organization. Entry of Unwanted risks can be checkmated via contracts by deploying effective ‘Contract Safety Pre-qualification’ process as an integral part of Supply Chain Management.

It was found that in most reactive safety culture environment, the following challenges affect Contract Safety Pre-qualification;Non-existent/Ineffective Safety Management SystemIneffective Supply Chain Management processesShort term cost focusIneffective Social Responsibility delivery strategy

The findings from this study could be an eye opener for investors currently working or planning to work in any environment where Regulatory enforcement and Safety culture is still developing.

Addressing these gaps as identified above is a sure way to improve Contract Safety Pre-Qualification. Recommendations from this study details strategies and tools for ensuring organizational effectiveness, eliminating unwanted risk, improving productivity and cost optimization.

Novel/Additive Information

This resultant effect of reactive safety culture on Contract Safety Pre-qualification, with respect to its consequences on Supply Chain management processes, is here looked at from a new perspective and emphasis. Tools and techniques that have worked for for some organizations in Nigeria, are discussed for consideration by organizations facing such challenges.
The Business Case for Ethical Recruitment of Migrant Labor
Authors: Wilson Grorge
Published: April 2018

This paper summarizes the system of migrant labor recruitment to the Arabian Gulf, the human rights abuses inherent in the current system, risks to businesses with unethically recruited migrant labor in their supply chains, and recent developments in the sector.
Shetland Gas Plant Waste Water Treatment Systems - Achieving Compliance in a Fragile Ecosystem
Authors: Bain Andy , Ferguson Rachael
Published: April 2018

The Shetland Gas Plant (SGP) is a large gas processing site built in a very fragile ecosystem (blanket bog) at Sullom Voe on the Shetland Islands.

There are multiple environmental designations in the surrounding environment (RAMSAR, SSSI - Site of Special Scientific Interest, MPA, …). The site processes gas and liquid, the produced water effluent from these operations are then fed to the Effluent Water Treatment Plant (EWTP) for processing prior to being discharged to Yell Sound via a 3.75 km pipeline.

There are numerous defined pathways and very sensitive receptors in the area which both the produced water and drainage water could directly impact in a short period of time.

The regulatory regime is very intensive & wide ranging, this allied to the high societal expectations, especially socio-economic, meant that careful design and construction criteria, along with very reactive operational control methodologies, were required to manage the need for continuous monitoring and modifications.

Best Available Technique (BAT) assessments were carried out to determine a predicted contaminant level; actual recorded levels were then compared to the predicted level. Over the course of a lengthy construction and commissioning period, it was found that the output contaminant balance was very complex and susceptible to large movements with small input changes; these were recognised as associated issues (multiple determinands and management of trigger levels).

This required prolonged and intensive adjustment to the process to ensure that the regulator agreed Environmental Limit Values (ELV's) were met. This process had a multi analysis approach to allow for the many different variables which required to be controlled in tandem to meet the ELV's. Final environmental sign off from commissioning was achieved in July 2017 and even with the higher than anticipated usage and the legacy construction issues, the site continues to improve its performance and protect the receiving environment from process contaminant problems.

It was found that engagement with the regulator at an early stage and regular/informed updates, good baseline assessments, a solid understanding of stakeholder management issues and initial and ongoing biodiversity identification allowed the project to manage this very sensitive development in a very fragile and reactive ecosystem.
Business Improvements through Implementation of International Investors’ Standards
Authors: Amirkhanova E. A.
Published: April 2018

Environmental and social standards of the international investors (e.g. World Bank Group, The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the Asian Development Bank, Export Credit Agencies and others) have been actively evolving over the last 20 years. These standards have been initially developed as a risk management tool for international lenders. With time they have become a representation of good practices in environmental, health, safety and social management. Standards are widely used both within financing and non-financing context. However it is difficult to find practical examples in the existing body of literature which describe whether and how application of these standards is actually beneficial for companies and their projects.

The objective of the paper is to analyse the experience of several companies in applying international environmental and social standards and identify how they benefited from their use. This paper also discusses reasons for use of the standards, key challenges encountered by the companies and solutions they implemented.

International investors’ standards are different from most domestic regulatory requirements. Firstly, they aim to meet long-term sustainability objectives rather than deliver short-term compliance-based outcomes. In practice this means ongoing improvement rather than pure compliance with certain regulations. Secondly, they cover a broad scope of sustainability issues, e.g. human rights, safety culture and social licence to operate and many others. Often this requires very efficient collaboration between internal and external stakeholders. Thirdly, they rely on risk-based approach often taking owners out of their comfort zone by calling for a change in a decisionmaking process.

The paper demonstrates how companies managed to overcome the challenges and benefited both within a financing and non-financing context: from contributing to longer-term sustainability of businesses, to unlocking an access to different investment options.
Working in Partnership to Deliver Oman's Solar into Schools Project
Authors: Robinson J. T. , Abu Rumman M. M.
Published: April 2018

Oman arguably has some of the best solar resources in the world. However, unlike growth in photovoltaic (PV) trends seen elsewhere, there has been very little penetration of PV or establishment of PV-related businesses, to date. Key reasons for this include: a market absence for solar demand largely inhibited through the provision of heavily subsidized electricity generated from fossil fuels, an immature solar regulatory framework and a lack of a locally skilled and experienced solar workforce. The value and importance of entrepreneurship is recognized as a core element of Oman's longer term strategic vision, with SMEs (small-medium sized enterprises) being identified as key potential contributors to the country's future economic growth and diversification. The ‘Solar into Schools’ Project was borne from a 5-yearly corporate social responsibility initiative called Gift to the Nation, that aims to create benefit for Oman and Omani's. Through the ‘Solar into Schools’ Omani based solar entrepreneurs learn to develop and grow their PV capabilities to help them prepare to competitively compete for future growth in Oman's PV market. At the same time, by installing small scale PV systems into public schools across Oman, the project provides a platform to engage Oman's youth on the country's potential future alternative energy transition pathways and the role that entrepreneurs can play in this change
Continuous Improvement in Environmental Performance: A Case Study in an Oilfield Services Company
Authors: Sealy Ian , Scott Hannah
Published: April 2018

This paper describes a seven-year program in an oilfield services company that has been incorporating sustainability into internal business processes and improving environmental performance through the application of continuous improvement (CI) techniques.

The description of the global program is illustrated with examples that exhibit substantial performance improvements in energy, water and waste. In each year throughout the life of the program several facilities were given specific, quantified objectives to implement a CI project that would deliver enhanced environmental quality and efficiency. The projects use an incremental, data-driven process called define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC). Projects are reported and reviewed via a centralized repository, and supervisory management implements a standard validation process designed to ensure consistency and accuracy in the quantification of improvements.

The control phase of the DMAIC process facilitates the sustainability of each project, beyond the calendar year in which it is launched, as models for preserving short- and long-term improvements are required. Since the start of the program in 2010, more than 280 projects have been completed in over 25 sites in 13 different countries. Environmental impact improvements have included reductions of 383,66 MWH of electricity, 102466 Klitres of water and 2,615 Tonnes of waste eliminated, reused or recycled across an average of 25 sites participating each year.

The program results have been shared in the company's sustainability reporting, and used to support submissions to external sustainability benchmarking and disclosure indexes. The results have also been used to engage employees and to share innovations and environmental best practices at the facility level. The initiative has stimulated forward-thinking management decisions on sustainability within the organization. Each of these aspects is discussed in the paper.

This program demonstrates that the quality management based concept of systematic elimination of waste can be successfully applied to environmental management in a diverse, multi-site global organization. Process checkpoints ensure that the project remains on track and provide data that can be used to measure continuous improvement actions towards sustainability.
The Development and Piloting of an Energy Management Culture Assessment Tool for Use in Organisations
Authors: King Stuart , Lawrie Matthew
Published: April 2018

Energy management is increasingly a focus for organisations, driven by fluctuating prices and the need to meet climate change targets. Technology and management systems alone will not lead to the desired energy performance - a good "energy culture" is required to ensure that technology is used correctly and management systems flourish. This research project adapted a HSE culture assessment tool to create a tool to help organisations understand and improve their energy management culture.

The researchers engaged with 40+ people with knowledge and experience in the field of energy management to create the assessment tool. 14 dimensions of energy management culture were identified in a workshop, and further defined in ten follow-up interviews. Four criteria for the dimensions were considered: relevance across a wide range of organisationsprovides differentiation of how well organisations are performingcovers an "intangible" aspect of energy managementreadily recognisable to people working in such organisations

The new assessment tool was subsequently tested in five pilot workshops to understand the potential effectiveness of the tool and gather suggestions for improvement.

The tool comprised of 14 different aspects of energy management culture identified during the workshops and interviews. These included, for example: What priority do managers give to energy management?How engaged is the workforce in energy management?How is competency and training for energy management delivered?How open to change is the organisation in energy management?

The tool was found to work well in the pilot workshops that tested how effective it was at enabling people understand and identify improvements to their energy management culture. The assessment framework was accessible, easy to understand and covered a comprehensive range of energy management issues.

Some improvement points about the tool surfaced, e.g.: Re-phrasing for small organisationsSome dimensions may not be recognised in some organisationsDefine the scope of Energy Management for workshop participants

The workshop process worked well, including a range of people from the organisation from the same level in the organisational hierarchy.

Issues about energy management culture raised included: There are resources in place e.g. training courses, but these are under-utilisedPrevious attempts to improve energy management have been made, but the organisation's culture is not open to change. There is a willingness to talk, but actions are not followed through

The focus on improving safety culture in the oil and gas industry for the last 20 years has led to great improvement in safety performance. The way that culture has an impact on safety can inform how culture has a similar impact on energy management performance. The drive for transferring good practice in the area of safety culture to energy management is based on sharing knowledge and skills across the whole of the energy sector.
A Risk-Based Approach to the Assessment of Aviation Emergency Response
Authors: Walker K. , Oeen O.
Published: April 2018

Organizations in the oil and gas industry depend on contracted aviation operators to transport personnel to work sites for the collection of geophysical data. Many employees and contractors are therefore exposed to air transportation risks as passengers.

Although aviation incidents are relatively infrequent, they can occur almost anywhere and often result in multiple fatalities. A coordinated response to aviation incidents is needed whether the aircraft is directly contracted or has a company has its personnel on board. It is essential to ensure there is a suitable and sufficient emergency response plan (ERP) in place.

This paper looks at how an oilfield services company uses a risk-based approach to determine audit requirements for ERPs used by aviation contractors to ensure the provisions are suitable and sufficient.

The first step is a screening process, to determine the need to specifically audit an aviation operator's ERP based on a specified set of criteria. If all the screening criteria are not met, an aviation operator ERPs assessment is conducted using an assessment tool. This process provides a rating score, taking account of the nature of the flights and the flight environment, as well as the type of aircraft, the background of the aviation operator and specific criteria for offshore helicopter operations. This assessment is conducted on both aviation operations which are contracted directly by the oilfield services company and those contracted by others, where the oilfield services company's personnel may be exposed to risk if there are inadequate mitigation controls.

For aviation transportation in geographic areas where state agencies do not establish procedures and provide resources for search and rescue it is necessary to ensure call-out procedures within the local aviation community and local emergency responders are suitable and sufficient.

Where high risk ERP findings are identified, the aviation operator is required to address these issues within a specified timescale. Any new or significantly modified procedures, equipment or practices which require to be implemented are to be tested to ensure effectiveness by having conducted a successful ERP exercise. A risk-based approach is taken to determine the requirement for an audit of the adequacy of aviation operator's ERP.
Monitoring Health and Safety of Oilfield Workers through Wearable Technology
Authors: Sinha Ankit , Vyas Harsh
Published: April 2018

Recent advancements in wearable technologies have opened multiple avenues for innovation in numerous fields. The smart watch in particular that monitors individual's health and mental state allows user to keep regular track and maintain his/her fitness is extensively in use these days. The idea this paper proposes is that Oil and Gas industry can also deploy such technology to monitor the health of oilfield workers. Such fitness tool can enhance employee safety by monitoring workers’ stress level and also by alerting workers to occupational hazards. Keeping regular track of workers’ health will enhance workplace efficiency which will lead to reduced downtime and cost savings and would also enhance workplace's safety.

This technology can be very easily implemented in Oil and Gas industries with very minimal costs and in return enhancing the health and safety of the workplace by several times. However, the gadgets must be suitable for rugged environment which present additional set of challenges. Not only the gadgets should be resistant to the harsh environments such as exposure to high temperature, drilling fluid interference and brash operational conditions, but also should be able to accurately measure and transmit the data.

The paper enlists the advantages of using such devices in the oil and gas industries, both upstream and downstream and also addresses various challenges faced by such gadgets while deploying into the oilfields and necessary modifications and enhancement in prevailing technologies to counteract with situation.

This paper presents a novel idea of managing the health and safety of the workers in the workplace very efficiently and at the same time, benefitting the company, both socially and economically. The use of special smart watches would make the working environment of such a dynamic industry a better place than before very simply, easily and cheaply and at the same time ensuring safety and improved economics of the industry.
Major Accident Prevention - Lessons Learned and Reinforcement Initiatives Ongoing in Statoil
Authors: Holst Bjoern
Published: April 2018

Statoil’s contribution to this session of the SPE HSSE Conference is to share how we have reinforced our safety culture in the way we lead and work to reduce the risk of facing high potential incidents or major accidents.

The main objective of this paper and lecture is twofold:Raise the awareness of barrier challenges that historically have caused major accidents in our industry, and still do.Present specified risk areas that Statoil have reinforced attention on based on our learning from high potential incidents and major accidents in the period of 2012-2017.

The paper is seen from an operational user perspective and founded in the author and presenter’s more than 35 years of operational experience from "sharp end" worker and management positions within offshore operations and greenfield projects.

Key risks to be covered: Plant vibrations Plant corrosion Overdue/backlog of safety critical maintenance Diffuse gas leakages Transport of risks between an onshore planning party and offshore executing party Last minute change of plans Compliance with safe work requirements Competence

A film is developed to support the lecture in plenary.
Human Performance and Safety Culture Initiatives Transform Safety Performance
Authors: Hoffmann Rob , Lerner Nicole , Critchley Steven , Cislo Geoffrey
Published: April 2018

At the time of acquiring a remote greenfield gas development in 2013, the project's total recordable injury rate (TRIR) for the site development phase was 2.0. Though this rate was considered competitive for the industry sectors in which the local contractors generally worked, it was considerably higher than that prevailing in the oil and gas industry and did not meet corporate expectations. Several potentially serious near misses provided additional impetus for action.

Six staged programs were initiated to enhance the overall safety culture and instill human performance principles: Tenets of Operation; Stop Work Authority; Incident Free Operation; Managing Safe Work; Contractor Health, Environment and Safety (HES) management; and Fatality Prevention. An overall safety-improvement roadmap guided the sequencing and integration of the programs to complement one another and avoid information overload.

The programs were deployed through orientations, field engagements, mentorship, workshops, safety meetings and leadership engagements. Clear accountability and behavioral expectations were communicated and reinforced. Fieldwork was designed to avoid known construction error traps and incident investigations were required to elucidate not only why an incident occurred by how the situation evolved to the point that the condition existed. Over time safety metrics were re-focused from TRIR to evidence of program implementation and safeguard verification to ensure the heightened focus did not drive reporting underground. After deployment of the programs the array of contractors was reduced to eliminate those where progress could not be demonstrated.

The project experienced progressive improvement in safety performance and a steadily declining TRIR. The number, frequency rate and severity of incidents decreased in each successive year. By the end of 2017 the project had accumulated 7 million work hours without any serious injuries, and without incurring a recordable event in 2017. In addition, site productivity improvements tracked with improved safety performance, after accounting for the initial implementation period. A notable culture shift was also apparent in the local communities: the contractors began applying the programs and best practices they learned while working on the project to other, non-oil and gas projects. This shift demonstrated how a strong safety culture could lead to world-class performance and benefit local communities for years to come.
Strategic Partnerships for Reducing Health Risks in the Workplace
Authors: Rizk Fouad
Published: April 2018

Objectives/Scope

Historically, Industrial Hygienists have focused on recognition and evaluation for the control of exposure health risks. Even with mature strategies in place, Industrial Hygienists often find it challenging to effectively communicate risk with management to continually drive exposure reduction. This paper will provide an overview of a global risk reduction process and tools to enhance risk communication, while partnering with management to reduce and eliminate risk.

Methods, Procedures, Process

A successful risk reduction process is a collaborative team effort involving Industrial Hygienists, workers and line management that use input from a mature exposure assessment process, which identifies activities with potential exposures above threshold limits and supported by associated effectiveness measures such as field assessments, regulatory audits and workplace incidents. Once these activities are identified, discussions regarding control measures take place to review the risk, consider the limitations of personal protective equipment, evaluate administrative controls and challenge the risk owners to consider possible engineering controls. Following the discussions, a control measure that is risk- based, fit-for-purpose and sustainable is agreed upon with the risk owner. This includes at a minimum, the validation of current controls or engineering solutions that reduce or eliminate the hazard.

Results, Observations, Conclusions

Strategic partnerships involve input from workers and line management to prioritize risks; as well as to brainstorm control options and select cost effective mitigations. It has been shown that the risk reduction process further increases partnerships between industrial hygiene and line management in the mitigation of future health concerns, as well as strengthens business line ownership for future health risk solutions. Implementation of our global process has resulted in enhanced risk communication with workers and management, reduction in exposures and the identification of cost-savings through reduced energy costs, personal protective equipment usage, and productivity savings. These benefits will be demonstrated by presenting examples of successful risk reduction projects, ranging in size from simple engineering modifications to large scale innovative solutions, from across the world.

Novel/Additive Information

The information presented in this paper will help industrial hygiene and safety professionals, as well as line managers implement sustainable controls to protect workers. The strong interaction and partnership between the industrial hygiene professional and the business line will help boost the value of industrial hygiene to the organization.
We Want Zero! - Using Lateral Thinking Strategies to Address a Fundamental Question: What is Preventing Us to Achieve Zero?
Authors: Scotti Davide , Matkin Darren , Ruffolo Simona
Published: April 2018

Organizations often experience safety problems which are chronic in nature, reoccurring problems that have been tackled many times through an array of solutions, but remain embedded in everyday working life and become a tolerated norm.

Our brains are biased toward solving problems using conventional logical processes, thinking in very linear selective pathways, where each step is precise, requiring exact and logical reasoning that must be correct before moving on. Although very effective, this ‘vertical thinking’ can lead us to overlook the REAL root cause of a problem, that, if not truly identified, creates the risk of providing misguided solutions, whose results are never potent enough.

Saipem's aim was to break from the limitation of traditional vertical thinking and to generate largescale lateral thinking ideas, solving problems through an indirect and creative approach. This was done by utilizing the power of provocation. Individuals began challenging normal assumptions that arise from a vertical thinking process, while applying these techniques to ‘identify the problem behind the problem’, uncovering the true root cause before moving onto solutions and action planning.

This innovative problem-solving process called "We Want Zero" was launched by the CEO in early 2014, and takes the format of a one- day highly interactive ‘brainstorming’ workshop. Attendees are carefully selected for their strong operational experience and, above all, capability to be creative, innovative and open-minded enough to embrace change.

The workshop leads with the question ‘What are the factors which are preventing us to achieve zero?’, which generates hundreds of potential problems for analysis, which are then divided into three main categories, Organizational, Technical and Cultural, and further clustered into common themes. Applying lateral thinking processes then enables the effective discovery of the true root causes, and only then moving onto the development of targeted action plans, using the Pareto law and emotional tools in order to activate creativity in the process.

The brainstorming events are championed by the senior level managers attending the workshop, as they are also in charge of driving the implementation of action plans.

This paper will describe how Saipem approached dismantling long-term ineffective solutions, how the methodology was applied across its operating divisions, and the high impact that the process has on the organization's ability to further break the safety plateau and achieve zero fatalities.
Integrating Human Factors into Standard Risk Assessment - Proposal Approach
Authors: Yasseen Abdelsalam , Peresypkin Sergey
Published: April 2018

Human factors approach in oil and gas industry is still an emerging science compared to other industries, where most human factors publications focus their application in the design stage. However, human factors methods can be applied at any stage; contributing to bridging the gap between "work imagined" and "work done" concepts. This paper aims to provide an alternative approach in Service Company's complex activity for hazard identification and risk assessment.

A commonly utilized tool, Human Reliability Assessment (HRA), includes human factors in a risk assessment process, however, this method is time consuming and not easily adopted without extensive effort spent on training and operationalization. The approach proposed by the authors represents a simplified method focusing on key factors from Human Error Assessment & Reduction Technique (HEART), relevant to the nature of the Service Company's Operations. This is integrated into our existing qualitative risk assessment to recalculate the overall risk of a certain task. The process and the template for risk assessment is modified to include sections for human factors.

Ongoing field rollout tests show positive indications in regard to improved error capturing for error producing conditions during the task that'll be consolidated by end of Q1-2018 after field test completion. Modified risk assessment approach will reshape the standard risk assessment practices, moving the focus to and targeting the inherent unreliability of the task as a result of error producing conditions caused by unavoidable human interactions within complex systems. This method will include a matrix for measuring operators’ understanding of the potentially existing risk through a dedicated questionnaire. This matrix measures improvements in the overall understanding of risk involved from the front line employees’ prospective. Expected benefits also include further improvements for risk assessment training and competency by the company. The hypothesis is that by introducing key human performance factors to the risk assessment will help build awareness of human factors and their relationship to the probability of an existing risk. Utilizing an already effective system – risk assessment – to introduce human factors methods will help avoid the complexity associated with its implementation and still get the benefit of key elements of a well-established method.

This approach compares a standard risk assessment to one with integrated human factors. This comparison allows for assessing the gap between "work imagined" and "work done" practices, and for feedback from front-line employees as end-users of company procedures. This paper provides insights on how human factors can impact the level of risk and outlines the control measures targeted at such factors that can be missed if a standard risk assessment is applied.
Development, Adoption and Implementation of Fabrication Site Construction Safety Recommended Practices
Authors: Popat N. , Perkins B. , Vassiliev N. , Reyes Valdes O. , Hawkes C. , Carvalho M.
Published: April 2018

This paper discusses the complete cycle of the development, adoption and implementation of the IOGP fabrication site construction safety recommended practices for hazardous activities, as well as supporting enabling activities, and reference library. It also describes a world class example of sharing learnings and best practices across industry to improve safety performance of contractors and subcontractors, making construction safety standardization business as usual.

Adoption statements from senior management within IOGP task force companies are shared in this paper. Implementation of IOGP-577 for the execution of project within a major oil and gas company is illustrated as a case study.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Along the Norwegian Gas Value Chain
Authors: Leyris Juliette , Jansen Bjørn Ove , Follum Odd-Arne , Musdalslien Unni
Published: April 2018

Norway is the third largest gas exporter in the world and the second largest exporter of piped-gas to Europe. Natural gas, mostly consisting of methane, has a low CO2 emission per unit of energy produced during combustion compared to other fossil fuels. However, methane itself is a powerful greenhouse gas and a high level of methane emissions along the value chain could potentially offset the climate benefits of natural gas in a comparison with more CO2-intensive fossil fuels.

With this background in mind, the present study examines greenhouse gas emissions along the Norwegian pipedgas value chain. The study boundaries extend from production on the Norwegian Continental Shelf to end-user delivery on the British and German gas markets. Primary emissions data are used for production and processing (the upstream and midstream sectors), while results from recent international studies are used for transmission and distribution (the downstream sector). The aggregated results are presented in the perspective of a coal vs. natural gas comparison. The emissions attached to Norwegian gas are also benchmarked in the European context.

The greenhouse gas intensity associated with Norwegian gas delivered to customers in the United Kingdom and Germany appears to be significantly lower than the corresponding average for all gas consumed in Europe. Methane represents just 4% of the total GHG emissions. For the gas value chain from the Norwegian Continental Shelf to end-users in the United Kingdom and Germany, over 90 % of methane emissions occur in the transmission and distribution sectors. Considering the gas value chain from production to gate-delivery to customers in the United Kingdom and Germany, the methane emissions associated with Norwegian gas are below 0.3%, while the average for all gas consumed in Europe is 0.6%. These performances are related to the quality of the Norwegian subsea transport network, a high CO2 tax, focus on minimizing methane leakage due to safety risk and a close cooperation between the gas producers and the Norwegian authorities with regard to methodological developments.

Overall, the estimated levels of methane emissions support the climate benefits of natural gas compared to coal, both for the Norwegian gas and for the average of all gas consumed in Europe.