bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stakeholder Engagement Programs: Balancing International Best Practices and In-Country Leadership
Authors: Khalsa A. , Slocum D.
Published: April 2008

Successful development of international exploration and production (E&P) projects is increasingly dependent on managing social and stakeholder concerns. Critical to this success is a balance between the need for international best practices and local leadership of stakeholder engagement (SE) programs. As international practitioners, we see the following critical trends emerging: There has been significant progress in developing SE best practices/methods in recent years;Few host country social experts have been exposed to these developing practices/methods; andDespite this, experts from within host countries are typically in the best position to execute these programs because they: ◦Understand the social customs, language, and culture◦Are known and more trusted by regulators and residents

The authors argue that to better manage this balance, international oil and gas companies and their consultants need to commit to two-way capacity building that simultaneously: Conveys best practices from international oil companies, financial institutions and ESHIA practitioners to capable local consultants; andCommunicates to international parties and practitioners the value of stakeholder engagement being led by qualified local experts.

Through a series of case studies, this paper demonstrates how the challenge of effectively managing international SE programs can impact development projects and how the recommended approach can help meet this challenge. The paper provides conclusions and recommendations for how to improve capacity building activities and optimize opportunities for local involvement in stakeholder consultation.
The Other Infectious Diseases of Concern
Authors: Moreau Jean-Marie , Balge Marci Z.
Published: April 2008

Problem Statement

For several years now, oil companies have developed control programs for Malaria and Tuberculosis. Most of the major companies have also developed plans to prepare for an eventual Avian Flu pandemic. However, several other infectious agents and diseases have potential for serious impact and/or operations disruption.

Objectives - Scope

This paper will describe ConocoPhillips experience dealing with highly contagious disease offshore and onshore and the response plans that allowed minimizing their impact. It will also share the lessons learned and highlight the role of management, medical, employee and community involvement required to control those diseases.

Results

The unusual cases encountered recently in Asia Pacific prompted a review of the epidemiological data available in the countries involved with regards to diseases prevalence/incidence, immunization coverage, diagnostic capabilities and treatment facilities

Application

Best practices for the prevention of those diseases were identified and will be highlighted in the paper.

Assigned reference: "SPE-111545-PP"
ROSA Project: SIMOPS and HSE Management
Authors: Jones Howell Glyn
Published: April 2008

Discovered in 1998 by TOTAL Exploration and Production Angola (TEPA), the ROSA field is located offshore Angola at a distance of 16 kilometres from the spread moored Girassol Floating Production Storage & Offloading (FPSO). In this area the water depth is about 1,350 metres.

The ROSA Project, sanctioned in 2004, proposed a subsea tie-back of the wells to the Girassol FPSO, where 5600 tonnes of additional processing equipment was added to the existing FPSO. This work proposed challenges never faced before in deepwater West Africa - the long length of flowlines in cold environment and extensive tie-in works in a simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) environment on a live FPSO.

In order to achieve these significant modifications over 300 additional persons were required for the installation, hook-up and commissioning activities working for a continuous period of almost 24 months offshore.

This paper focuses on the safety challenge faced by the ROSA Project Group (RPG) and its integrated team of contractors during this extensive period when only 5 shutdowns were planned – the remaining activities being under SIMOPS safeguards.

The strategy for the topsides works will be described focusing on the implementation of the SMS and the Safe System of Work on the FPSO during the integration in SIMOPS conditions, a benchmark for future projects of this magnitude.

The conclusions address the main HSE performance, lessons learnt and keys to success for the integration, hook-up, commissioning and start-up activities of the Project. The significance of this paper is to share the knowledge from a safety perspective of a major project worked in SIMOPS conditions, knowing that the modifications of the Girassol FPSO are the largest ever made thus far on an existing FPSO under live conditions.
Effective HSE Shutdown Management in the World's Largest Gas Plant
Authors: Duplessis John , Kutlay Semih , Zaid Saleh
Published: April 2008

In 2007, the challenge of ensuring effective HSE shutdown management in the world's largest gas plant is increasing. Although many systems were in place to aid and manage contractors during the shutdowns, we have taken several steps to improve performance. In the Habshan and Bab HSE Department, most of those implementations are based on aligning the contractor's HSE Plan and HSEMS with GASCO.

Contractors needed a better system to address the increased need for safety, to ensure a high level of HSE performance. Although there are several management systems in place to monitor contractor HSE performance onsite, the division has made changes for continuous improvement.

One of the problems is the HSE culture within contractor companies didn't compliment the standards within GASCO. This is caused by several issues like loss of experienced personnel and lack of HSE implementation by the contractor.

The Division has implemented several improvements to address. One of the main changes was to make a long-term contract for shutdowns to curb the loss of experienced personnel from our workplace. In addition to this, the HSE department has made improvement to the methods and standards for HSE training as well as contractor HSE supervision.
Whenever Disaster Strikes… Major Risk Anticipation by HSE and Medical Joint Engineering: The Kharg Island Case Report
Authors: Lentz T. , Benard G.
Published: April 2008

Mass H2S / SO2 gas poisoning may occur in an oil field where several thousand workers are on site constructing a new processing plant, whilst production is continuing simultaneously. In such an event, patients would need immediate and continuous treatment, adequate transportation and triage while a global HSE response would be triggered.

On Kharg Island (Iran) medical and HSE teams on site worked together to design an original emergency response including:

Integrated and coordinated response (HSE/Medical)

Low-scale / large-scale response scenarios

A ready-to-run triage area

Pre-designed vehicle conversion for patients needing oxygen

Pre-positioned mobile and flexible oxygen cascades

Specific training for First Aiders, including members of the workforce and non-medical personnel

One of the main benefits of such a coordinated plan is the availability of continuous treatment for those affected from the very first seconds until they are stabilised.

An exchange of knowledge between HSE and medical teams, working together in a joint engineering, is essential to mastermind an effective response to a mass site accident in the Oil & Gas industry.
Getting Risk/Impact Assessment Right—The Most Critical Tool to Incident Reduction
Authors: Grant F. L.
Published: April 2008

The single most effective tool in an HS&E Management System to achieve "target zero" is a good risk management culture with a foundation in effective risk & impact assessments. If these have been assessed; implemented and communicated effectively, we can start to see a significant decline in incident trends.

However, the quality of risk & impact assessments across organisations and the industry is variable. This paper aims to describe a strategy to use risk & impact assessments to their full potential and beyond and to engage the workforce in a risk management culture.

This strategy has been developed by a team of HS&E Managers and is currently being tested in the field. In addition to typical methodologies used for risk/impact assessment it includes: –a training system for effectively communicating the purpose and interpretation of risk/impact assessments to employees–a way to make risk/impact assessments more accessible to employees and, consequently, increase the likelihood that they will be used

A creative and multi-faceted approach is required for the training that will engage employees and allow maximum opportunity for retention. The employee takes responsibility for his/her own learning and can study at their own pace via a uniquely designed distance learning course. For organisations with multiple, remote sites, this approach also has the added benefit of being cost saving.

It is critical that the results of the risk/impact assessment are well communicated to the employees involved with the task so that they are more likely to fully participate in the identified control measures. A simple view template has been created that is posted at the site of the hazard and clearly indicates to employees how they could get hurt and what they can do to mitigate those risks.

The strategy is generic and may be applied across office, workshop and field environments.
Hazard and Risk Register for Management of Major Upstream Hazards
Authors: Pitblado Robin , Whipple Tracy
Published: April 2008

The process industry has been successful in controlling and reducing occupational health hazards, with close to a factor of 10 improvement achieved by several large companies over the past 20 years. The means for control of major hazards however has proven more difficult with a relatively steady number of major accidents, which has not shown a significant decline (e.g. Marsh100 Largest Losses) and in general is equally true for the upstream and downstream oil industry, even though these industries have quite different regulatory frameworks.

In the USA, onshore major hazard industry is subject to the Process Safety Management Regulations (OSHA 1910.119) if parts of the facility exceed nominated inventory thresholds. Similar regulations apply from the EPA under the Clean Air Act Amendments, with additional requirements to carry out some worst case release scenarios. The PSM regulation was passed in 1992 and its focus is to ensure implementation of a safety management system that identifies process safety threats, ensures adequate mechanical integrity, manages changes, and investigates accidents. A fuller list of best practice requirements is available in CCPS (2007). Following a major accident at Texas City, the Baker Panel (2007) recommended that the whole industry review its implementation of PSM and to enhance several aspects. The Panel stressed the importance of compliance with PSM in full and suggesting a number of management commitment and process metrics recommendations. OSHA is currently undertaking full PSM audits of all US refineries under its control by 2009.

The EU Directive for onshore process safety is covered in the Safety Case Regulations (e.g. COMAH in the UK). These have been through several revisions since their original issue in the 1980's to take account of actual accidents and lessons learned from other industries (e.g. upstream O&G). The barrier approach to risk management has received extensive treatment in Europe since the early 1990's, with strong reference to Prof Reason's swiss cheese model for accident causation. Shell used the bow-tie method to manage process safety at its Pernis Refinery in the Netherlands (Zuijderduijn, 2000) and at many other facilities globally. The EU sponsored the ARAMIS project that examined the Bow-Tie method in the early 2000's as a means to enhance process safety (Salvi and Debray, 2006). In Norway, a major project is looking at a similar method, titled Barrier and Operational Risk Assessment as a means to enhance process safety (Aven et al, 2006).
Monitoring Bioremediation in Oil Contaminated Soils Using Toxicity Analysis
Authors: Al-Mutairi Nayef Z , Al-mutairi Majed S
Published: April 2008

During in situ oil bioremediation, only a portion of the oil is actually consumed by the bacteria. The oil and a highly distilled and altered oil residue remain in the environment. The residue is generally considered more acutely toxic than fresh oil due to the loss of water soluble and volatile mono- and diaromatic hydrocarbons, such as the benzenes and naphthalenes.

To track oil degradation at the oil lakes in Kuwait, a tiered toxicity approach was used. Three soils from different locations with a history of hydrocarbon contamination were treated in bench-scale microcosms using conditions (nutrient amendment, moisture content and temperature) which had promoted mineralization of total hydrocarbon in a preliminary study. Bioremediation was monitored using the solid-phase Microtox test and earthworm survival assays. Total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations in soil A did not change after 150 days. Although 85 % of the total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in soil B were reduced after 120 days following treatment, results of the earthworm and Microtox tests suggested an initial increase in toxicity indicating that toxic intermediary metabolites may have formed during biodegradation. In addition, the significant decrease of TPH and corresponding high toxicity levels were also noted in soil A after 150 days of the bioremediation process. However, during the last 50 days of treatment, a considerable decrease in toxicity levels occurred in soil B and C. Whereas, TPH and PAH concentration did not change between 150 days and 200 days.

When Microtox is used as a monitoring tool, quantitative changes may be used to evaluate the efficacy of spill response and mitigation techniques. The Microtox system could also be used to assess the efficacy of bioremediation, chemical cleaning, mechanical removal, and "no treatment" treatments. The results not only establish Microtox values and method detection limits for a wide range of different oils, but also provide additional information to environmental engineers who must decide whether additional cleanup, such as bioremediation, is required.

Clearly, toxicity values, and not just concentration, is a key factor in assessing residual bioremediation endpoints. Field chemistry data showed a significant change in oil contamination after the biological treatment. Comparison of the chemistry monitoring data and the toxicity data showed a poor correlation between oil loss and sediment toxicity.
Health Plan Ingineering for E&P Operations
Authors: Steenman G. , Gardair J. P.
Published: April 2008

Total International Medical Department for Medical Support of E&P operations integrates medical engineering into Project main industrial engineering.

The Health Plan is a permanent reference document written, amended and applied during the different phases of the "exploration", "design", "pre-project", "project", "operations" and "abandonment of installations".

Designing a medical support for a Project requires a fine tuning particularly in designing the Health Care Organization Scheme. Medical knowledge of physiopathology is a key element of evacuation strategy.

The Health Plan matrix is applied to any Project at any stage of its development. This one relies – whenever emergency medicine is concerned – on an analysis principle: the Onset-to-Treatment Interval (OTI).

Considering logistics, several decision-making tools have been designed in accordance with state-of-the-art medical knowledge and HSE requirements. These include: Medical staff determinationEvacuation / Repatriation strategy
Management Team Role in Safety Performance Improvement
Authors: Arias Daniel R.
Published: April 2008

Pan American Energy LLC. is an exploration and production Company which established in November 1997 in Argentina.

During 2006, PAE produced more than 79 MMBOE. To this effort, the Company devoted more than 21 million man-hours and drove over 87 million km.

Since its inception in 1997 and the implementation of its Health, Safety and Environmental policy, PAE has continuously improved its performance in safety and environment protection.

One of the Company's success factors was based on the involvement and commitment of both, its own employees as well as the Contractors, in the prevention of accidents and environmental protection. A critical factor in the implementation of the HSE system was the role of PAE's line of management in achieving compliance with the policy rules.

To that aim, PAE created the Health, Safety and Environment Forum integrated by the Company's Operation Managers and Vice-presidents, having the mission to ensure compliance with HSE objectives, promote the tendency to zero accidents and/or occupational illnesses and prevent environmental damage, as well as continuously promote commitment and ensure an active communication across the entire Organization.

The HSE Forum agenda is updated every year on the basis of such issues which require more focused consideration. Thus, during the last years, the Forum worked towards the reduction of risks related to vehicle accidents, ground disturbance, confined space entry, load movement and work at environmental sensitive areas.

By the end of 1997, the DAFWC rate was of 1.48 accidents per 200,000 worked hours and by December 2006 this rate was of 0.038. This lagging indicator reflects the improvement achieved over the years. It is important to keep in mind that proactive measures must also form part of KPIs in order to reinforce and maintain a prevention culture in the Company.
Improving Environmental and Occupational Health Performance Through a HSE Management System—A Seven-Year Case Study
Authors: Leuterman Arthur J. J. , Candler John , Rabke Stephen , Ceron Roberto F.
Published: April 2008

Environmental and health issues are frequently nettlesome and often costly if left unaddressed. Within the last 40 years many industrialized countries have developed laws for protecting citizen's health and the environment. These laws have helped in the development of regulations minimizing the impact of environmental and occupational health issues. Translated to the workplace, these regulations drive companies to develop programs with a structured and consistent approach that will protect its workers, minimize its impact on the environment, and protect communities in which it does business. The implementation of a management system provides both governances in an easy-to-use fashion. This constructive means of facilitating, fostering and encouraging performance has shown very dramatic results throughout an oilfield service company.

In 2000, the firm developed a health, safety and environmental management system that included standards to which company operations would adhere. Since the company operates in a number of countries, the standards were written in a general nature to allow for incorporation of local requirements. Each company location throughout the world was charged with implementing the requirements of the management system and making the changes necessary to conform to the corporate management system and the local regulations. Within a year of implementing the management system, audits were scheduled and performed at company facilities to confirm implementation and provide suggestions for further improvement to the management system. A scoring system was used to compare progress made by different sites within the same geographical area as well as progress made by locations throughout the company.

This paper examines the cultural shift, attitudinal redirection and resultant changes in the company's business activities in the occupational health and environmental sectors. This includes the integration of risk assessments and job safety analyses, emergency response planning and training, and annual auditing as tools to improve performance with the results from more than 50 countries over seven years charted.
Innovative Methodology for Cleaning Pipes—Key to Environmental Protection
Authors: Soranç Buzelin Luiz Otávio , de Campos Lima Cláudio Benevenuto
Published: April 2008

The oil companies typically have flexible and rigid pipes abandoned from their submarine supplies along with closed wells that are not economically attractive. In the process to abandon the pipes, it is absolutely essential that a proper cleaning treatment as per the environmental regulations is followed.

Normally, these operations are expensive and risky. The pipelines are shipped onshore to an appropriate base using a conventional system, including the withdrawal of the lines by Lay Support Vessels (LSV), from the bottom of sea to be cleaned and hydrostatically tested. As the rigid pipelines can not be recovered through the conventional system, it's necessary to clean the pipes before abandoning. The normal process of cleaning the pipes using PIG and water is not very effective. Hence a new methodology has been developed using chemicals to remove paraffin and asphaltene.

The chemical product is basically composed of Diesel, Isopropane, Benzene and Napthalene, which helps to effectively clear the clogged pipes. The pipes need to be treated with these chemicals for a minimum of 12 hours, better results can be obtained by increasing the treatment period. A special filtration procedure is required to separate the liquids and solids from the material that is discarded from the pipes and the liquids are recycled through the pipe again till the pipes are fully treated. Finally, the liquids are fed into the plant treatment processes and solids are discarded. In the past, a different set of products was used which required an extensive treatment of the liquids being discarded from the system. This new solution is more cost-effective and the results are much better than the previous approach and environment friendly at the same time.
Hearing Loss: A Case Study on the Burden of the Oil Industry
Authors: Zambrano Celly John J.
Published: April 2008

It is normally accepted that hearing loss is an important occupational health issue. However, for how much hearing loss is the industry responsible? What are the main concerns when hiring personnel to work in loud noise contamination areas? How much safety engineering is necessary? Is personal protective equipment (PPE) enough to avoid the problem? Could modern living style be part of the problem?

In this review, the author analyzes more than a thousand medical records of personnel working in the industry in a Latin-American country (Ecuador) over a five-year period and proposes some answers to these questions.

General or ear-specific and previous medical conditions—chronic or acute—and some commonly used medicines constituted the majority of the cases.

Other cases could not be classified as occupational because no evidence of exposure or lack of protection in daily work activities was found. Field operations could expose employees to noise contamination, but office work does not.

Preoccupational physicals, particularly for field personnel, must always include hearing screening with an audiogram to determine previous deafness conditions, and proper follow-up must be included in regular physical examinations to detect early hearing problems.

Assessing noise levels in the workplace and noise exposure in employees is an important role of the HSE department—both to control loud noise in the first place and to implement mitigation measures such as PPE. Supervision of appropriate use of PPE is very important, because controlling noise at the source can become very difficult and expensive.

Finally, hearing loss can also occur in non-occupationally exposed people because modern living styles and other risk factors may cause hearing problems.
Challenges for Realization of Health, Safety and Environment into Detailed Design in Onshore EPC Projects
Authors: Tanigawa K. , Kobayashi K.
Published: April 2008

This paper discusses the challenges for the realization of HSE requirements into the detailed design in onshore EPC projects. It describes the actions taken and tools developed to assist a more efficient engineering execution, within the EPC schedule and budget, by ensuring the identification and implementation of the HSE requirements into the detailed design.
Incidence of Kidney Stones Among Oilfield Workers in the Republic of Yemen
Authors: Sellei Lajos , Feng Li Ren
Published: April 2008

In the Republic of Yemen the most common cause of medical consultations and medical evacuations from oilfield locations is renal colic due to urolithiasis. There is no week without this kind of emergency and there is no single day in field clinics or in our occupational health clinic without an employee complaining of painful urination, blood in urine or back pain. The major cause of these complaints is urinary crystals and stones and their related consequences.

International health statistics show the average incidence of urinary tract stones to be between 3 and 6 % with the highest rates found in the over 60 years age group. In the Republic of Yemen among oilfield workers over the last 3 years we found the incidence to be more than 10 % with no significant difference between the various ages. This result is identical to that reported in local health statistics reviewing the Yemeni population. We can consider this high incidence of kidney stones among oilfield workers to be non-work related, but due to the local environment – extreme heat, dryness, lack of rehydration, dietary habits, etc.

In the Republic of Yemen, even if the employee is a local or a foreigner, working in the country more than 2-3 years can produce urinary tract crystals and stones, and their related symptoms. How to prevent kidney stones in hot working environments has become a major training issue.
Corporate Social Responsibility History Case: Solidarity Program Associated with the Touat Project of Gaz de France in the South West of Algeria
Authors: Augustin Antoine , Leblanc Michel
Published: April 2008

Mid 2003, Gaz de France started drilling operations on the Exploration License of Touat located in the South West Algeria. Early 2006, Gaz de France launched an associated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) project.

Primary contacts have been initiated with local authorities and with the well established United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in order to benefit from the social baseline information they had already gathered, and from some pilot actions they were carrying with local associations.

From these contacts, Gaz de France has initiated a CSR project, referred to as the Touat Solidarity Program, which is articulated around a number of key structuring elements. First, the Touat Solidarity Program project favor long terms objectives. Secondly, it fits into the program of the UNDP who has pre-identified and evaluated the needs of the area of activities. Other E&P actors are supporting and taking part to this UNDP program. The Touat Solidarity Program is also developed in relation with the local authorities to favor its acceptability and benefit from the authorities financial support. Local actors are involved as much as possible, and training is provided to build up their autonomy. Codegaz, a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) close to Gaz de France, is involved in the implementation of the program. Being present in the field and manned by Gaz de France employees and ex-employees, the contribution of Codegaz emphasizes the visibility of Gaz de France on site. The organization ensures actions are fruitful for locals.

The different entities of Gaz de France involved in the project are liaising as required in order to ensure the consistency of the project and be able to clearly communicate on the subject to the company stakeholders.

The principles at the heart of the Touat solidarity program are in line with the main E&P industry recommendations who advise to privilege long-term over short-term actions, to engage with local authorities and NGOs, to collaborate with other E&P actors and to resort to social issues specialists.
Institutional Capacity Building For Creating Health System Governance And Sustainable Development
Authors: Madera Angelo , Cianca Stefano , Uberti Filippo , Abushawashi Ali , Elbousify Ahmed I. , Swehli Mohamed
Published: April 2008

SCOPEANDNATUREOFTHEPAPER: Paper presents preliminary actions carried out by Eni North Africa BV within its sustainability projects in health sector in Libya for stimulating participation and commitment by the local community and creating new competencies. A national survey to assess conditions at cardiovascular hospital units has been planned within the country to contribute in setting-up a data flow between hospital facilities and relevant authorities. The survey census involve both scientific and institutional stakeholders that have been co-operated closely during all planning and implementing activities. Reliable data availability, acquiring updated approach in health service research and renewed leadership in promoting quality among the hospital facilities by the institutional stakeholders are the final goal of the exercise. RESULTS, CONCLUSIONS: The survey exercise piloted a mechanism for stakeholder engagement for contributing to improve the co-operation among the national health service actors, to establish a nationwide collaborative network of cardiovascular professionals, improving their skills and capabilities on Clinical Governance issues, for enabling them to support actively coming reforming policies and actions promoted by the Ministry of Health and Environment.
Techniques for monitoring the recovery of deep, cold-water habitats following physical disturbance from drilling discharges
Authors: Jones Daniel O. B. , Park Iain F. J. , Gates Andrew R.
Published: April 2008

Recovery of deep, cold-water benthic habitats following physical disturbance caused by discharges of cuttings and water-based mud from drilling have been measured using remotely operated vehicle video sampling techniques. These approaches allowed opportunistic monitoring to be carried out as part of an environmental impact assessment and in stand-by time from a drilling rig using existing technology. This provides oil and gas operators with a realistic method for integrating routine environmental monitoring into normal operations, providing a cost-effective and scientifically robust monitoring method. This study outlines, as an example of successful use, the monitoring of recovery in megafaunal assemblages at the Laggan field in the Faroe-Shetland channel immediately after discharge and again two years after discharge. Data were also collected on baseline conditions and from a nearby well site to provide data on recovery ten years after discharge. Initial disturbance resulted in a reduction in faunal diversity and density from baseline levels close to drilling activity (100 m). After two years and within 100 m of the drilling activity assemblages were still significantly different in composition and lower in diversity and density. Recovery was suggested after ten years by increases in faunal density and diversity close to the site of previous drilling activity. In the area completely covered by cuttings (approx. 30 m radius after 10 years), there were few megafauna observed in any survey. The implications for management are discussed.
eXpLore Leadership Programme—HSSE Training Specific to the Needs of Exploration Leaders
Authors: Gerber Kurt , Naylor Michael , Berry Ruth , Sheperdigian Doug , Rudkin Darren
Published: April 2008

The design and delivery of an HSSE module on Shell's eXpLore leadership programme was a direct response to requests from exploration staff and leaders for more structured attention on HSSE in a manner relevant to the specific HSSE challenges which Shell's Exploration business faces.

The objectives of the HSSE module of the Shell eXpLore programme are to: –Raise the profile of HSSE in Shell's Global Exploration Function by creating a passion and sense of ownership for HSSE;–De-mystify HSSE management and create a sense of confidence in using HSSE systems;–Demonstrate leadership commitment to HSSE;–Simplify and prioritise Shell's HSSE requirements, processes and procedures;–Create an environment in which HSSE experience is part of the development and progression of talented individuals;–Ensure that a ‘high reliability’ HSSE culture is intrinsic to our planning and execution of ventures;–Offer refreshing external insights to familiar internal HSSE challenges.–Impact the performance of our (new) ventures.Fig. 1The eXpLore leadership programme covers six different business and capability themes (shown in blue) within the exploration business process. It was launched in September 2004 to complement existing Shell leadership training programmes.

The programme's goal is to enhance exploration performance by creating a well led, aligned, highly skilled and highly motivated exploration community.

The new HSSE eXpLore module was designed jointly by University of Cambridge faculty, their supporting consultants and Shell's senior Exploration Leaders.

The first 2.5 days are filled with a rich programme of lectures, simulations and exercises, relevant case studies, faculty from Shell, Cambridge and associated Universities, and renowned external speakers. This is followed by a unique ‘real work’ project of 1.5 days to solve urgent and real-time HSSE issues for a new Exploration venture. The course also includes a hazard spotting tour in Cambridge, which is not only great fun, but also allows networking and strengthen the global Exploration community.
Ready For R.E.A.C.H.?—A Service Company Approach to REACH Sustainable Solutions
Authors: Castanares A. , Sanders J. , Pongratz R.
Published: April 2008

R.E.A.CH., the European Union Regulation on Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals, was adopted by the European Parliament in December 2006. REACH entered directly into EU Member State National law on June 1, 2007. The regulation is one of the most complex and far-reaching pieces of legislation ever implemented in Europe and will be phased in over an 11-year period. The aim of REACH is to protect human health and the environment from potential risks derived from the use of chemicals. The adoption of REACH reverses the responsibility for the testing and risk assessment of chemicals from national authorities to manufacturers, importers, and end users of chemicals.

The new regulation will have a significant financial impact on the European chemical industry and its downstream users. Various impact studies have already demonstrated such effects. However, while accepting that all actors in the supply chain, including the oil industry sector, will be affected to some extent, a proactive approach to the challenge and early readiness has been followed by this company while it concentrated on improving the health and safety properties of marketed chemicals.

From a continued commitment to improving human safety and environmental excellence, this company, a major oilfield service company, set up a global inter-departmental task force in 2005 to prepare for REACH. This task force includes representatives from HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment) and PML (Procurement, Materials, Logistics) departments, Research and Development departments and the affected PSLs (product service lines) covering all aspects in a project environment. The resulting strategic plan is discussed in the context of an oilfield service company searching for sustainable solutions. Challenges in procurement practices, complexity of communication channels in oilfield chemical-supply chains, the potential benefits of the new regulation, and data/examples are presented.
Microwave treatment of oil-contaminated drill cuttings at pilot scale
Authors: Robinson John , Kingman Sam , Snape Colin , Bradley Michael , Bradshaw Steven , Thomas Dominic , Page Paul William
Published: April 2008

This paper details a new technology for the continuous treatment of contaminated drill cuttings at a throughput of 500 kg/hr, and can be scaled-up for use in offshore locations.

The change in legislation for oily cuttings discharges in the North Sea at the beginning of the century resulted in the introduction of a 1% residual oil limit for discharged cuttings. At the time, because nothing was capable of achieving a 1% level offshore, only two options existed to deal with oily cuttings: containment for onshore processing (skip & ship), and injection (CRI). With time, a thermo-mechanical cuttings cleaning process has produced cuttings with oil <1%, although with a significant deck space impact and restricted throughput.

Previous studies have shown that microwave treatment is able to reduce oil levels to well below 1% in a laboratory environment, and this work has studied the scale-up of the system to a 500 kg/hr continuous process. The manufacture of a pilot-scale cuttings treatment system involved the collaboration between microwave and electromagnetic engineering specialists, bulk solids handling and process engineering disciplines. The feed cuttings are conditioned in a solids mixer, before being fed via a conveyor to a specifically designed microwave cavity. The oil is removed and recovered using an extraction and condensation system, with the product oil being very similar in composition to the base oil in the drilling mud. Residual oil levels of <0.1% are obtainable, and cuttings throughputs of 500 kg/hr are possible using a 30kW microwave source. The microwave process typically consumes 60 kWh of electrical energy per tonne of cuttings, and the trade-off between microwave power, residual oil content, cuttings throughput and overall energy requirements are discussed.

This is the first step in the development of a modular system, with low deck impact, flexible processing rates, and reduced environmental signature.
Stakeholder Influence on Social and Environmental Performance Metrics for Petroleum Companies
Authors: Clare Jay B. , Päster Pablo
Published: April 2008

The petroleum industry has increased its overall commitment to improving living standards and enhancing environmental and social conditions while conducting its business. In order to meet its commitment, the industry has recognized the need to measure its combined social and environmental (or sustainability) performance according to a system that ensures quality, completeness and consistency. Despite the means by which an individual company may objectively measure its corporate responsibility, public opinion regarding the social and environmental responsibility of the company (or relative to other companies within the same industry) is not likely to be based on a consistent set of objective metrics and rigorous assessment of actual performance against those metrics (or indicators). This paper presents a brief overview of existing sustainability performance metrics and describes a framework that takes into account stakeholder concerns to measure and compare the combined social and environmental performance of petroleum companies.
To Share Findings and Challenges in Conducting Health Impacts Assessment in Remote Geophysical Locations in the Third World Countries
Authors: Majid Wadzir
Published: April 2008

Study objectives - To share findings and challenges in conducting health impacts assessment in remote geophysical locations in the third world countries

Design - Rapid health impact assessment involving brain storming sessions, work through observations of the current and incoming locations, engaging individual interviews with few key informants and literature review.

Setting: Remote geophysical areas of Sudan

Main results - Recommendation are made that cover issues around physical work environment, psychosocial work environment and work life balance.

Conclusions - The main challenges face by the assessors were in gathering the hard written evidences, logistic requirements, perceptions and cultural/tribal behavioral barrier during process of gathering the necessary input for hia within limited time allocated. One may have to rely on the power of visual observations, other indirect input base on previous similar project and cross references with input of senior project operators and management to get the necessary data for formulation of the reports. Rudimentary demographic data and lack of the statistical input from the local communities/authorities, poses special challenges for the assessors.

Well design rapid health impact assessment is a useful pragmatic tool for facilitating wide consultation. In particular engaging key stake holders (state governments and local population if any) in the very early planning stage of development, and assisting in highlighting changes to maximize the positive health influences on communities as development progress and minimizing the negative impact such as over crowding, community encroachment around the main core activities of exploration, extracting and processing petroleum.
Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Drilling Mud in Arid Area: Evaluation of Specific Fate Factors of Toxic Emissions to Groundwater
Authors: Malika Ghazi , Quaranta Gaetana , Duplay Joelle , Khodja Mohamed
Published: April 2008

The objective of this work is to give a first view of the environmental impacts assessment in an arid region (Algeria) of water-based (WBM) and oil-based (OBM) drilling mud. They have a considerable pollution potential particularly on the aquifer system which constitutes the single drinking water resource. We use the Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) approach which takes into account all the stages of use, treatment and disposal of drilling mud.

We evaluate all the life cycle of drilling mud, and compare 4 scenarios of treatment and disposal: Thermal desorption, Stabilisation/Solidification off line, Stabilisation/Solidification on line, and reserve pit without treatment. The quantitative comparison is carried on, using the LCIA models in the simulation software SIMAPRO7. This assessment identifies the tendencies of the emission and impact categories dominating in the arid context. It appears that the treatment scenario which has the highest contribution to the human health, climate change and resources damage classes is the simple reserve pit without treatment. The second most contributing scenario is the thermal desorption scenario whereas the off line stabilisation/solidification is the less contributing treatment. These first results will be refined in order to precise the contributing impact classes and point out the stages of processes to be improved.
Saipem Sustainability Talent – Speaking With Our Local Stakeholders
Authors: Mauri Daniela , forzan Andrea , De Sanctis Sabatino
Published: April 2008

Saipem's approach to sustainability provides the annual commitment of external communication so as to give a possibility to stakeholders to examine closely Saipem reality. Since 1997, Saipem has been developing HSE reports, providing in-depth analyses of the Saipem Group's overall performance. The ever-increasing interest by stakeholders in companies’ socio-economic data has spurred the Oil&Gas sector to produce sustainability reports, and Saipem has reacted accordingly. Saipem felt that, the only corporate sustainability report would overlook important country-specific aspects. Therefore, the Company decided to publish several reports on various countries of operation. The Sustainability case studies issued by Saipem respond to the commitment of transparency, clarity and assurability we took with all stakeholders, developing a specific disclosure of the way Saipem is working in the frontiers areas. Saipem Sustainability Case Studies already issued focused on operations in Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Peru, Asia Pacific, Oman and Angola. All reports share the same structure, although available data and the individual nature of each site make each document unique. These reports are prefaced by a general introduction to Saipem's operations throughout the world; they contain an analysis on the environmental, social and economic impact of the activities, so as to illustrate Saipem's endeavour to develop Local Content in the Country.

The case studies spread out Sustainability commitment both at Corporate and at site level; both internally and externally; both through our initiatives and upon requests. We received interesting feedbacks from our readers and we tried to positively implement all suggestions. The utilisation of the case studies in the contracting phase for the new projects suggests us to better point out the impacts Saipem has in the country on its economic, environmental and social development. The distribution to the local stakeholders, suggested us to facilitate the comprehension of the contents translating it in the country mother tongue.
Wellsite Operations with Seismic Air Guns - The Potential Killer
Authors: Tulett J. R. , Clark M.
Published: April 2008

Offshore Borehole Seismic (BHS) surveys require the use of special equipment to generate a supply of high pressure air/gas, and high pressure air-guns deployed in the sea to generate the acoustic energy to propagate seismic waves through the formation. With offshore petroleum exploration occurring in deeper wells, more complex sub-surface formations, and with steadily higher expectations for the results of BHS surveys, there is an industry trend in the deployment of more powerful seismic air-gun sources to provide critical geophysical information of petroleum reservoirs.

Offshore BHS surveys also require the use of the drilling rig, supply ship or vessel to deploy the air-gun source. When conducting these surveys, the air-gun source is fired several hundred times over the duration of the survey and this paper describes how to mitigate the risks to As Low As Reasonably Practical (ALARP).

All well programs having, or planning to conduct a BHS or geophysical survey such as Check-Shot Survey (CSS) or Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP) can benefit from these safety recommendations.

Actual examples of unsafe seismic air-gun equipment, uncontrolled local practices, and lack of test or certification programs will be presented, to highlight the potential safety risks involved in BHS operations.

Recommendations for the testing & certification of critical high pressure air/gas equipment components, the training & certification program for personnel involved in BHS operations, the air-gun equipment setup and deployment methods, and an example of new air-gun controller safe shutdown feature will be presented, to show how safe operations can be maintained throughout the borehole seismic survey.

Failure to implement an HSE system can present a high risk of incident to people and equipment during borehole seismic operations.