Mitigating Accidents In Oil And Gas Production Facilities

Integrated operations are increasingly used in oil and gas production facilities to improve yields, reduce costs and maximize profits. They leverage information and communications technology (ICT) to facilitate collaboration between experts at widely dispersed locations. This paper discusses the safety and security consequences of implementing integrated operations for oil and gas production. It examines the increased accident risk arising from the tight coupling of complex ICT and SCADA systems, and proposes technological, organizational and human factors based strategies for mitigating the risk.