Practical Aspects of Managing HSE in a Remote Oilfield Operation

Abstract

Abstract ChevronTexaco operates the Barrow and Thevenard Island oilfields situated off the NW coast of Western Australia. Chevron Australia assumed operatorship of the Barrow and Thevenard Island oilfields in February 2000, prior to this Chevron had provided management and technical support to West Australian Petroleum (WAPET), the previous operator. In October 2001 Chevron and Texaco merged to form ChevronTexaco. The aim of this paper is to provide a practical lookback on the issues that have affected the way a safety management program is managed and implemented in a remote operating environment. The paper primarily focuses on a number of issues, which have affected overall safety performance, these include: Technology and engineering;Management systemsBehaviours The challenges that have faced ChevronTexaco in the management of safety in the Barrow Island and Thevenard Island operations have not been unlike that of other operators in similar remote situations. The Barrow Island oilfield was the first commercial oilfield in Western Australia and also one of the earliest onshore oilfield developments in Australia. As such when the field was being developed in 1964 oilfield technology, management systems and safety culture were all issues which either were in an immature state of development or did not exist at all. In addition to this the remoteness of Barrow Island to the wider oilfield community together with the absence of peers in a similar operating environment presented both a challenge and an opportunity in the development of a safety culture. Over the past 10 years the organization has experienced a number of changes all of which have had an impact on safety management and overall safety performance. This paper addresses the issues that have had an impact on the overall management of safety in a remote operation and to characterize which aspects of the systems that were put into place which resulted in the most impact in improving overall safety performance. The paper also focuses on the latest issues that the organisation is addressing with respect to the development of a sound safety culture. In particular the issues of visible leadership and personal accountability are discussed in the context of a HSE management system framework.