Shale could 'learn' from offshore safety
22 May 2015
Emerging industries could learn process safety lessons from more mature sectors such as offshore oil & gas, industry experts have suggested.
Offshore exploration on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) has dropped rapidly in recent months with forecasts taken from Oil & Gas UK’s Activity Survey 2015 painting a bleak picture in terms of future investment.
Last year, capital investment in the UKCS peaked at around £14.8 billion, largely driven by high oil prices and bespoke field allowances between 2010 and 2014.
“If you start with an organisation or industry…and you address both occupational safety and process safety, then you will actually get the right cultures and behaviours throughout
Cogent Skills’ Neil Smith
However, figures within the survey suggest investment this year will be no more than £11.3 billion, while the forecast for 2016 is £8 billion – almost a 50% reduction in investment in just two years.
Current oil prices - roughly $65 (£42) ppb - are not helping matters either.
However, such problems could be used as part of a model for building better process safety throughout emerging industries such as shale, experts suggest.
“The UK’s hydraulic fracturing (fracking) industry look set to grow rapidly over the next few years,” Neil Smith, head of workforce development at sector skills body Cogent Skills, told Process Engineering.
“If you start with an organisation or industry, and you make safety the major priority, and you address both occupational safety and process safety, then you will actually get the right cultures and behaviours throughout the entire organisation,” Smith said.
However, HSE director of hazardous industries Susan Mackenzie said she would not have chosen low oil prices as a method for improving process safety across nascent industries like UK shale but does think there are valuable lessons for all industries to learn from others.
“There are opportunities to focus on efficiency, sustainability and the maintenance of safe production,” she said.
“If operators keep a focus on their values and look for efficiencies, not cost cutting, there is light at the end of the tunnel.”
- Look out for our news analysis feature in June which takes an in-depth look at how oil prices affect process safety.
