(82b) Implementing Process Safety - Kuwait Petroleum Corp

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is the holding company for a host of subsidiary companies engaged in upstream and downstream businesses in oil and gas industry mainly in Kuwait. Refineries, petrochemicals and part of exploration and production facilities have high risks pertaining to process safety. In want of explicit legal requirements, it was left to subsidiaries to adopt and negotiate process safety issues. Several high visibility incidents, at the turn of century, forced KPC and subsidiary companies to look beyond optional compliance to some vague ?industry standards.' All operators understood the fact that process safety was more than looking good, very business survival was at stake.

A spurt of initiatives followed, starting with OSHA PSM standards 29 CFR 1910.119, API RP 750, adopting specifics of Du Pont, BP, Chevron and like. The recently published Baker Panel Report recommendations and CCPS Risk Based Process Safety are the latest in the list of wishes, rendering the implementation increasingly confused. It has been a real challenge for the practitioners and managers what to do, where to start and will it really make difference to the bottom line.

In proportion to its risks, company responsible for operating three refineries, Kuwait National Petroleum Co. (KNPC), a subsidiary of KPC, has been pouring much on process safety. The efforts have been immense, although diffused with some veritable pockets of excellence. Other subsidiaries, one operating petrochemicals plants and the other engaged in exploration and production, too are catching up. As predictable, the results of the past six plus years have been mixed. KPC is working actively to implement minimum common requirements on process safety among all its subsidiaries.