Security takes center stage

Dec. 15, 2014
Thwarting terrorists, repelling pirates, and routing organized crime: sounds like themes of familiar, big-budget Hollywood movies.

Michael T. Slocum
Upstream Technology Editor

Thwarting terrorists, repelling pirates, and routing organized crime: sounds like themes of familiar, big-budget Hollywood movies. Instead, these are some of the problems being addressed by companies in support of the oil and gas industry and its customers.

Kidnapping and ransom, even politically motivated killings, have been ever-present since the industry expanded into less stable regions of the world. Danger isn't new. The industry responds and mitigates risks.

Yet today, new threats like ship hijackings and the targeted destruction of supply lines are increasing in frequency and sophistication.

With the rise of these menaces, oil companies and their customers have sought new ideas and new partners. Where can the industry turn?

Several companies are providing answers on land and at sea, drawing on widely different backgrounds to successfully address these growing risks.

Safe haven?

According to Neptune Maritime Security, there have been 129 reports of maritime crime in 2014 with tankers and support craft becoming increasingly valuable targets for a new wave of organized crime and piracy.

The company reports the October hijacking of Vietnamese ship Sunrise was the latest of 16 tankers taken so far in 2014. Meanwhile, off Guinea in West Africa, there have been more than 50 confirmed incidents of hijacking, theft, and kidnapping of oil and gas workers and senior ship crew.

Neptune says the threat is becoming more sophisticated and widespread, now reaching across Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and South and Central America. With 12,000 ports worldwide, combating the threat will require a comprehensive response from the industry and its partners.

Formed in response to the Somali piracy off the Horn of Africa by two former members of UK maritime special forces, Neptune sees prevention as the answer.

This includes early and individual risk assessments of assets and projects, regional response plans, trained personnel, and armed-escort services. These measures, says Neptune, must be taken on ships, in shipping lanes, in ports, and on onshore and offshore oil and gas terminals.

Logistics vs. terrorists

Threats extend to oil and gas customers who must transport fuel in the most remote and dangerous regions of the world. Companies are partnering with some of the largest net purchasers of energy, such as the US government, the United Nations, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization to secure supply in extreme conditions and conflict zones.

Founded by two Harvard graduates, Mina Group, an integrated energy services and infrastructure company, specializes in creating and leveraging global logistic networks to address these issues.

According to the company, they are the largest supplier of jet fuel to the US military in Afghanistan, with all the inherent difficulties that that implies including scale of operations, remoteness, harsh conditions, and terrorist insurrection.

Mina pioneered a new supply route to support coalition forces. The route passes through difficult terrain and includes supply cycles that span several months and thousands of miles before fuel reaches its destination.

To ensure the security of its supply, Mina says it manages multiple storage locations with combined capacity of more than 20 million gal, operates rail tank cars and tanker truck depots, and built a pipeline to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

The company reports it is in Oman developing infrastructure that consists of a bulk fuel facility capable of receiving, storing, and delivering 16 million gal of fuel.

Mina says the challenges presented in complex regions of the world require inventiveness and tenacity with a particular sensitivity to security. In addition to internal initiatives, they collaborate with local communities to ensure the safety of their customers' fuel supply and their own personnel.

The mounting threats to oil and gas production, transport, and supply require ideas from across the spectrum. This means that two ivy-league graduates and two highly trained special forces members can attack the problem differently with the same success.

That sounds like a Hollywood movie I'd go and see.