Fire safety in the oil and gas industry was the subject of the last workshop of the year organized by the Environment, Health and Safety Committee (CASYSIA) of the Regional Association of Oil, Gas and Biofuels Sector Companies in Latin America and the Caribbean (ARPEL).

ANCAP was the host of the event which was attended by 60 professionals from Axion, Centro Argentino de Lucha contra Incendio y Conducción (CALCIC), Ecopetrol, ENAP, EP Petroecuador, Equión, Ferraro Camacho y Asociados, International Fire Safety Consulting (IFSC), Pemex, Pluspetrol, Repsol, SPG Fire & Security, Tecpetrol, Tema 2000, Williams, YPF, YPFB and the Uruguayan state company.

The objective of the workshop was to share best practices and the conceptual and technological innovation in fire prevention and safety, continuing the efforts made by ARPEL to improve the safety performance of member companies.

Andrés Pavia, EHS Director of Ecopetrol and Chairperson of CASYSIA stated "the process safety is the most important focus that we have at this time. I think this is where we need to make a great effort to implement a very good process management system, which will enable us to have safe facilities from the time we are designing them and operating them, and subsequently make the appropriate closure at the time of completing the projects."

Pavia noted, "the protection of people and facilities is the most significant aspect", and added that the industry faces also very important challenges in environmental issues. "The care of an emergency in an appropriate manner helps us mitigate risks to the environment," he said.

According to the expert, the other key issue is the safe behavior of workers. "If we want to achieve better results, we need to work on this in order to continue to achieve satisfactory results," he stated.

Fires and explosions are the main causes of death in the industry according to the latest results of ARPEL Report on Benchmarking on Industrial Safety.

Regarding this point, the Manager of Safety and Environment of the Pacific Unit of Repsol, Carlos Videla, who presented the methodology called "security based on performance or effectiveness," said that one of the key aspects is "the best use of the fire protection assets in the industry".

"The vision that we present in this workshop is comprehensive and places much more emphasis on the elements of prevention because it evaluates prevention and protection at the same time," he said.

Videla highlighted two important aspects that should be taken into account.
On one hand, the importance of making an analysis of the specific location of facilities or plant. "If facilities are located by the sea, in a city or a desert, they may have different characteristics even though they are conceptually the same. Everything that surrounds them affects the risk".

The other aspect is to take into account how valuable facilities are from the point of view of the loss of profit."When facilities are burnt down or destroyed by an accident, there is direct damage, that is to say, loss of facilities and products, but there is also loss of profit because facilities are out of operation and it can take a long time until they are back into operation. In the meantime, the company's revenues are severely affected," he said, adding that "the aim of this methodology is to include the loss of profit in the cost-benefit analysis of fire protection."

"The main challenges are to provide training and disseminate this methodology to adapt ourselves gradually to a more inclusive vision," Videla said.

For his part, the President of ANCAP, José Coya, stated "we have to work hard on what the safety culture is in general, and especially in fire safety." Coya stressed that the company "has made very important progress regarding fire safety."

"From the point of view of its strategy and culture, ANCAP has made the decision to deepen dialogue within the company, especially on safety issues. We have sought various mechanisms, incorporating the union of company workers, so that there is no aspect that might hinder the solutions to problems regarding safety," he said.

For his part, the Regional Manager for South America and the Caribbean of Williams, Max Oyola, said "the industry cannot separate safety from all its aspects, industrial, environmental and occupational."

"When the industry knows and manages this issue, it is technically easier to decide on its best options," Oyola stated.