Posts filed under 'Oil & Gas Risk Management'
If you haven’t already registered, here’s a personal invitation from me to join us at ESS EXPO.08 from Sunday, April 13 - Tuesday, April 15, at Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort outside Phoenix, Arizona.
ESS EXPO.08 is the largest software users’ conference of the year dedicated to Environmental, Health & Safety and Crisis Management. Attendees will see the latest technology innovations from ESS – with up-close looks at new versions of our software (Essential Suite™ version 7.1 and the browser-based version of Compliance Suite™) as well as quick tips and in-depth explanations from the experts who design, develop and support those tools. In addition, our training team will offer training courses that address key regulatory compliance issues and best practices.
Participants will hear the latest news about a variety of Governance, Risk and Compliance issues and information management challenges. Sessions like “Corporate Sustainability: Helping People and Businesses Reach Their Potential” by Microsoft and “REACH – Understanding and Implementing for Compliance” by PTK, Ltd — the firm that co-authored the regulation — provide a brief sample of the topics that will be discussed at this year’s ESS EXPO.
At ESS EXPO, you can meet your peers, exchange best practices and meet keynote speakers Simon Jacobson of AMR Research and racing icon Kyle Petty. Jacobson will provide an overview of enterprise trends, while Petty, of course, plans to talk about NASCAR and business success.
Our business partners will show how they can enable ESS users to achieve even greater success with complementary solutions and services. And finally, ESS software users will benefit from sharing their own ideas and experiences while networking with other top professionals from a wide variety of vertical industries.
ESS EXPO.08 continues the tremendous success of previous EXPO events, which have attracted hundreds of EHS and Crisis Management professionals.
Tags: amr research corporate sustainability crisis management ehs ess expo governance risk compliance kyle petty reach
February 13th, 2008
Lately, there’s been a lot of discussion about the price of oil and its impact on global markets. Rising prices can, in part, be attributed to social and political instability in a growing number of oil producing nations. For example, an article recently published in the Washington Post served as a sobering reminder that consumer demand isn’t the only factor that has been driving up oil prices to record levels.
Royal Dutch Shell recently took a $716 million charge against earnings because of a major security breach near a key oil export terminal near the Forcados River in Nigeria. Insurgents initially attacked the facility in February 2006; and after several failed attempts by Shell officials to restore operations, the company was forced to shut down production. Damages during the subsequent period included thousands of barrels of crude oil, as well as the company’s 435-mile pipeline infrastructure. However, the most significant impact is the loss of an estimated 475 million barrels of oil per day that isn’t reaching the marketplace — at the same time that U.S. government officials are calling for OPEC member nations to increase production of petroleum products to keep domestic oil prices steady.
Terrorism impacts both global energy industry leaders and emerging companies on nearly every continent. For some time, executives of oil companies have been telling me that they are very concerned about the rising tide of terrorism against facilities around the world.
So is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which now mandates that companies have an emergency plan that is both complete, and exercised. In fact, John Gargett, ESS’ leading Crisis Management expert, has pointed out that enterprises — particularly energy companies — are becoming more vigilant because of the potential for increased attacks against their facilities. They are now conducting training exercises, often coordinating with local or regional emergency management agencies. Several of our customers have developed global crisis management programs, supported by the latest integrated information management technologies, to ensure companies can execute a robust response in case of acts of terrorism, major weather-related events or catastrophic operational incidents such as fires, workplace injuries and hazardous material spills to name a few.
While there is no way to prevent these kinds of incidents, investors aren’t jumping ship, even while energy companies’ assets are at significant risk. That’s because companies are doing more than ever to protect their interests and employees, as well as the interests of consumers worldwide.
Tags: department of homeland security emergency management homeland security nigeria oil royal dutch shell terrorism
February 12th, 2008
Although Russia will likely become wealthy over the long-term because of its oil reserves, the Russian government is going to slow that process to make sure no more oil spills happen like the one that caused $267 million in damages to the Kerch Strait earlier this month. A major oil spill in the Baltic Sea polluted a 30-mile stretch of water, killing birds and fish.
As a result, Russian officials will limit oil products shipped by river in 2008 by disallowing barges that are more than 25 years old. Because Russia has an industrial economy dating back to the Soviet Union, much of the oil industry’s equipment is aging.
“The fleet must be young. We will subject ship owners to such conditions that it will become unprofitable to use barges older than 25 years,” Alexander Davidenko, head of RosRechMorFlot, the river navigation agency, told Reuters.
According to oil industry spokespersons, this move will cut shipments by 70-80 percent below the customary 5-million ton level. The oil industry is not happy, suggesting that the government may be overreacting to the spill by over regulating the industry without doing sufficient research. They believe that there may be other ways to deal with the fallout without requiring major investment in new equipment.
Many of the oil companies we deal with have already put in place an integrated EHS software platform that enables managers to monitor and report such spills and correct problems with equipment before those problems erupt into crises.
Even though major oil spills are rare, organizations still need to be prepared to provide rapid and robust emergency response in order to minimize the potential ecological impact from these kinds of incidents. There’s plenty of motivation to do so, as investors are always closely examining companies’ ability to prevent or mitigate operational risks. Having a proactive crisis response plan, supported by a crisis management technology, can go a long way to protect the interests of the company and the community.
There are also rumors of a coming ban on floating storage facilities. When Russian rivers freeze in the winter, oil is stored in floating facilities until the spring thaw when it can be transported again. These facilities, if they are monitored correctly with crisis management reporting systems that support measures to prevent spills, could have their useful life extended without endangering rivers and seas.
If oil company barges would use the right kind of reporting and monitoring systems, it would be good news to the developed world, because we need the oil and the Russians need to sell it.
Tags: barges crisis management emergency response oil spill reuters russia
November 26th, 2007
