Proactive Indicators To Control Risks in Operations of Oil and Gas Fields

Abstract

Summary Because of the increased need for oil and gas, new and more-demanding oil fields must be explored in sensitive and challenging areas. Exploration of expert knowledge and new technology must be employed in these challenging situations. This collaboration and use of new technology introduces new ways of operating oil and gas fields. These new practices are often called "field of the future" or integrated operations (IO). These new practices are being implemented on the Norwegian continental shelf, leading to increased hydrocarbon recovery and changes in operations and maintenance. These practices may impact health, safety, and environment (HSE), but should not increase the risks of major accidents or influence HSE in a negative manner. In this paper, we are suggesting a set of proactive indicators to ensure that risks are controlled when IO is implemented and operated. A proactive indicator is used as a measure of risk, to be controlled in risk management. The indicators have been developed on the basis of analysis of accidents, exploration of theory, and interviews and discussions in collaboration with the oil and gas industry. Our suggested approach is to develop and explore indicators in close collaboration with key stakeholders to increase understanding and control of the relevant risks. Resilience and successful recoveries are not sufficiently explored in the reviewed accident reports, thus accident investigations should include reflections on reasons of successful recoveries and why the incident or accident did not have greater consequences. The three most important causal factors of incidents seem to be poor design and poor validation of equipment, poor risk analysis of critical operations, and deviations from established procedures. A causal factor important in remote operations is miscommunication between actors during critical operations. Several proactive indicators are suggested, among them the level of exploration of safety cases during design and risk perception among stakeholders involved in operations. The indicators of remote operations should be a measure of shared communication and a measure of shared risk perceptions when critical tasks are distributed. To validate the indicators, we are correlating the indicators with actual HSE levels. In addition, the indicators should be correlated to indirect measures (e.g., safety culture and risk perceptions) where appropriate.