(55af) Impacts of Climate Change on Process Safety Management in Oil and Gas Operations

Chizaram Nwankwo

Coventry University

Project objectives and goals

The aim of this study is to analyse the impacts of climate change on process safety management in oil and gas operations. The objectives for this study include the following: -

• To evaluate past, present and future trends of climate change around various global regions
• To establish the relationship between climate change and process safety management in oil and gas operations
• To proffer adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change impacts on process safety management in oil and gas operations

In the last two decades, climate change has emerged as one of the most controversial topics that has been argued on several fronts (Hulme 2009). The idea of global warming and the negative impact of human-driven activity on the global weather has been fiercely debated (Cook et al. 2016). However, Field et al. (2012) argue that the facts and figures tend to reiterate the continuous occurrence and proliferation of climate change, as well as its increasing impacts in different industrial sectors. Indeed, the warming of the climate is unequivocal (Panteli and Mancarella 2015). According to IIGCC et al. (2017), 70% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are attributed to energy-related activities. The oil and gas industry contributes to 60% of these energy-related emissions due to production of fossil fuels as their main operational activity (Puig et al. 2015). Evidence from NASA (2018) suggests that there has been 1⁰C increase in temperature which is close to the set mark in accordance to the Paris Agreement.

There are several case studies such as the flood in San Jacinto River, Houston Texas in 1984 and Coffeyville Refinery, Kansas in 2007. In the case of the San Jacinto flooding event in 1984, 8 pipelines were ruptured and 29 were undermined, 35,000 barrels of oil were spilled and ignited, while 547 people were injured and $23 million was incurred in damage costs (Matek 2017).

Hence, adaptive measures need to be applied to manage the severe consequences of climate change on oil and gas operations (Smith 2013). Such adaptive measures include more robust design specifications for oil and gas assets exposed to harsh climatic conditions (Cruz 2010). Ramasamy and Yusof (2015) suggest that this could be vital in offsetting the impacts of climate change on assets such as offshore rig platforms and equipment, transport pipelines, storage facilities etc. However, there is still little attention accorded to design and adaptation of oil and gas assets to offset the effects of climate change on them (Skjaerseth and Skodvin 2010). Therefore, this study seeks to analyse the impacts of climate change on deterioration of oil and gas assets.

Description of methods and results

Firstly, this study adopts a pragmatic paradigm since it explores the consequences of actions, is problem-centred, pluralistic, real-world practice oriented and allows for use of mixed models (Creswell and Creswell 2018). The area of investigation for this study is focused on impacts of climate change on oil and gas operations. The predominant approach taken for this study is a correlational research approach which tries to establish a relationship between climate change and oil and gas operations. The selected approach is due to the continuous occurrence of accidents in the oil and gas industry due to asset deterioration.

After thorough literature review of climate change trends and asset integrity issues in the oil and gas industry, this study identified a gap in knowledge that the oil and gas industry has not duly considered climate change during design of assets; hence posing a risk to oil and gas operations conducted under harsh climatic conditions. Therefore, the data collection for this study employed “concurrent triangulation” method of quantitative and qualitative data to ensure robust analysis of key variables such as climate change and oil and gas operations. Consequently, data collection tools for this study include questionnaires, interviews, archive data and documentary analysis. The data collection for this study was conducted over a period of 3 months.

Firstly, it involved piloting the questionnaire among academic and industry professionals to identify any errors, as well as testing and refining the data collection instrument. Next, the study was approved as a medium-risk project by Coventry University Ethics Committee, as primary and secondary data were collected from archive data, documents, questionnaires and interviews. The population sample for the study includes oil and gas industry professionals such as Mechanical Engineers, Facility Managers, Production and Well Engineers, Process Engineers, Health and Safety Officers, as well as Safety and Reliability Engineers. The questionnaires used for this study were designed using Bristol Online Survey (BOS) tool and covered questions around climate change and oil and gas operations. These data were predominantly collated and analysed using various software such as Zotero, Microsoft Excel and SPSS software. Statistical analysis conducted in this study include trend analysis, descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, Cronbach’s alpha reliability analysis and Relative Importance Index (RII). Lastly, the findings of this study were benchmarked and justified with peer-reviewed academic literature.

Potential for application of results

This research could aid in curbing several accidents caused by asset deterioration due to increasing number of climate change events. It will help the oil and gas industry to avoid the enormous financial, legal and moral costs associated with accidents. Also, this study will provide a deeper insight on current climate change statistics and proffer adaptation and mitigation measures on how to deal with these problems. Similarly, it could broaden the scope of researchers to start incorporating impacts of climate change on various industrial sectors and subsectors asides the oil and gas industry.

References

Cook, J., Oreskes, N., Doran, P.T., Anderegg, W.R., Verheggen, B., Maibach, E.W., Carlton, J.S., Lewandowsky, S., Skuce, A.G., and Green, S.A. (2016) ‘Consensus on Consensus: A Synthesis of Consensus Estimates on Human-Caused Global Warming’. Environmental Research Letters 11 (4), 048002

Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, D.J. (2018) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. 5th Edition (International Student Edition). Sage Publications

Cruz, A.M. (2010) Vulnerability of Oil and Gas Infrastructure to Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events [online] available from <http://indico.ictp.it/event/a09141/session/35/contribution/25/material/0... [5 March 2018]

Field, C.B., Barros, V., Stocker, T.F., and Dahe, Q. (2012) Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press

Hulme, M. (2009) Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge University Press

IIGCC, CERES, and IGCC (2017) Global Climate Disclosure Framework for Oil & Gas Companies [online] available from <http://www.iigcc.org/files/publication-files/Global_Climate_OG_Disclosur... [14 November 2017]

Matek, B. (2017) CHARACTERISTICS OF OIL AND GAS PIPELINE ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE INTENSIFIED HURRICANES [online] Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University. available from <https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/bitstream/handle/1774.2/46088/Benja... [26 June 2018]

NASA (2018) Global Climate Change [online] available from <https://climate.nasa.gov/> [9 May 2018]

Panteli, M. and Mancarella, P. (2015) ‘Influence of Extreme Weather and Climate Change on the Resilience of Power Systems: Impacts and Possible Mitigation Strategies’. Electric Power Systems Research 127, 259–270

Puig, D., Haselip, J., and Naswa, P. (2015) Adaptation to Climate Change in Colombia’s Oil and Gas Industry: Recommendations to Promote Risk Management [online] UDP-CRD-OLADE-01(EN). Denmark: UNEP DTU Partnership. available from <www.unepdtu.org> [19 September 2018]

Ramasamy, J. and Yusof, S.M. (2015) ‘A Literature Review of Subsea Asset Integrity Framework for Project Execution Phase’. Procedia Manufacturing [online] 4, 79–88. available from <http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2351978915011336> [14 May 2017]

Skjaerseth, J. and Skodvin, T. (2010) Climate Change and the Oil Industry: Common Problem, Different Strategies. Manchester University Press

Smith, M.H. (2013) Assessing Climate Change Risks and Opportunities for Investors: Oil and Gas Sector [online] Analysis of Climate Change Risks and Opportunities. Technical Report. ANU and Investor Group on Climate Change. available from <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Smith119/publication/304783... [5 April 2018]

Further Information

Chizaram Nwankwo (E: nwankwo4@uni.coventry.ac.uk)