(41d) Process Safety Implications of Interorganizational Knowledge Transfer between Oil and Gas Companies with Multiple Work Systems

The acquisition of ageing assets in the oil and gas industry has increased in recent years. These assets are generally acquired by smaller companies that wish to operate them beyond their useful life. Operating these ageing assets accompanies various challenges, including material degradation, obsolescence, and organizational issues. Among organizational issues, interorganizational knowledge transfer (IKT) stands out as the main challenge. While IKT is known to contribute to safe operations, this mechanism is still not fully understood. The objective of this study is to identify potential consequences of unsuccessful IKT for process safety. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts, who were presented IKT challenges observed in a case study of an oil platform acquisition. Interviewees provided insights into the impact of these challenges. The analysis of their statement enabled the identification of specific Risk-Based Process Safety impacted, including Process Knowledge Management, Hazard Identification and Risk Analysis, and Conduct Operations. These findings can also support the development of future frameworks to improve o IKT by managers and oil and gas regulators and indicate the need to fill regulatory gaps to ensure the commitment and shared responsibility between the seller and buyer companies and the operational safety in newly acquired assets.