Oil & Gas News

Growing Concerns About Offshore Oil and Gas Have Historical Foundations

As technology allows for the more widespread drilling and recovery of oil and liquefied natural gas in the world's oceans, companies and governments are recognizing the need to re-evaluate some long-held notions about the security of offshore platforms and other maritime assets.  In the past 25 years, approximately 50 attacks have been directed at offshore oil and gas assets, according to Mikhail Kashubsky, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Customs and Excise Studies, University of Canberra, Australia.  In a post-9/11 world, the value of and threat to these critical strategic assets have only increased.  While attacks provide a window on the types of threats the oil and gas industry has faced, they can also help prepare the industry for how to protect itself in the future.

Not all threats to offshore oil and gas can be solved with armed security or better firepower, and oftentimes, armed security are not permitted in waters where many assets exist.  In fact, the ones that have been historically the most damaging to companies and their bottom lines cannot.  One of the most disruptive activities directed against offshore platforms in the past has been environmental and political protest. 

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Past decades have seen environmentalist protestors interfere with and illegally board the Stella Carron drillship and the Stella Don offshore drilling rig in 2010.  The unauthorized boarding of the Liev Erikkson offshore drilling rig in Turkey and the boarding of the Parabe offshore production platform in Nigeria are still more examples.  Perhaps most memorable among these types of incidents was the illegal boarding and occupation of Shell's "Brent Spar" offshore oil storage facility in the North Sea on 30 April 1995.  Following the incident, Shell was forced to release a statement which read: "Shell's position as a major European enterprise has become untenable. The Spar had gained a symbolic significance out of all proportion to its environmental impact. In consequence, Shell companies were faced with increasingly intense public criticism, mostly in Continental northern Europe. Many politicians and ministers were openly hostile and several called for consumer boycotts. There was violence against Shell service stations, accompanied by threats to Shell staff."  This demonstrates beyond any question the potential damage to a company and its reputation that illegal boarding by protestors can cause.  The violence against Shell employees and the damage to the company's bottom line could be calculated in the tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars.

In addition to these illegal boardings, the oil and gas industry faces a growing number of terrorist and asymmetric threats from violent actors worldwide.  Israeli State Comptroller Joseph Shapira recently reported to Israel's Ministry of Defense(http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-offshore-gas-platforms-vulnerable-to-attack-1000923993):

"The reality in which Israel's economy and international standing are improving in the gas production industry, and the economy's growing dependence on the gas supply, make the gas facilities targets of attacks by hostile countries and terrorist organizations.  Hezbollah has made explicit threats to attack Israel's gas platforms. Threats against the Tamar production platform and the Yam Tethys platform which contain combustible gas and complex machinery, which are close to the Gaza Strip and not far from shore, are diverse and should be prepared for."

Additional detail within the lengthy report outlines Israel's significant increases in its concerns over these threats and the direct and indirect impacts on the country, its security, and its economy.  Shapira's concerns are not unfounded.  Precedents for this type of attack are plentiful.  Between 2006 and 2010, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND carried out at least thirteen attacks on offshore oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria as part of their campaign against the oil and gas industry.  In April 2004, Iraq's Al Basrah Oil Terminal and the Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal were attacked nearly simultaneously by suicide boats.  The attacks were reportedly launched by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Zarqawi network based in Iraq.  Terrorist, criminal, and separatist groups all see offshore oil and gas as high-profile, largely unprotected targets.  Even when populated by armed security teams, offshore platforms are tiny islands in a vast 360-degree field of fire.

The offshore oil and gas industry is beginning to understand the need for more comprehensive platform security plans that can address not only the high-profile "lethal" threats from terrorist and criminal groups, but also the non-lethal threats posed by protestors, refugees, fishermen, and any other group that seeks to illegally board a rig.  Security teams, naval patrols, and passive "fenceline" defenses such as the Alcyonics ™ Fixed Site Entanglement System (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/critical-maritime-assets-and-infrastructure-gain-greater-protection-222200101.html) are the best measures available today to reduce risk, mitigate damages, and stop threats.  With, when allowed, armed security teams providing protection against lethal threats to the platform and its personnel, naval patrols and a fixed perimeter system to stop incoming threats can deter illegal boardings without resorting to the use of deadly force.  This multi-layer, integrated approach is essential to the industry as non-lethal events can have far greater financial impact to a company than even a lethal attack can.  The notion of preparing to deal with threats with a one-dimensional response (i.e. "only" security teams, "only" naval patrols, etc.) is one whose time has passed.  Full spectrum protection is more important now than it has ever been. 

About Alcyonics

www.alcyonics.com - Alcyonics designs and produces passive and highly effective standoff defenses to combat the dramatically increasing global terrorist, piracy and political threats against oil & gas platforms, shipping and other maritime assets.

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