Security and safety are top priorities at petrochemical sites, refineries and storage terminals. Relying on electronic equipment is one half of the task; the other half lies in smart and strategic management.
The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico put rig security under the microscope for criticism and discussion. Reports of the crew turning off the alarm for the sake of uninterrupted sleep from false alarms remains unconfirmed, but undisputedly the petroleum and petrochemical industry reevaluated security protocols currently in practice. Oil and gas exploration sites, refineries and storage terminals often span across acres of land and space. Effective monitoring of such expansive sites requires careful planning in the early stages.
Security and safety are top priorities at petrochemical sites, refineries and storage terminals. Relying on electronic equipment is one half of the task; the other half lies in smart and strategic management.
The April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico put rig security under the microscope for criticism and discussion. Reports of the crew turning off the alarm for the sake of uninterrupted sleep from false alarms remains unconfirmed, but undisputedly the petroleum and petrochemical industry reevaluated security protocols currently in practice. Oil and gas exploration sites, refineries and storage terminals often span across acres of land and space. Effective monitoring of such expansive sites requires careful planning in the early stages.
Oil and gas experts highlight critical points on the blueprints of exploration sites, refineries and storage terminals, before actual drilling work commences. “Oil and gas companies are becoming more and more dependent on the advanced technologies that support their daily business operations, and the reliance on the applied technologies has made the companies more vulnerable to intentional and violent disruptions,” said Vincentius Liong, Director for Samudra Buana Texindo.
While planning is traditionally handled at the corporate level, actual site supervision is managed by rig managers during the exploration phase, said Lyle Alexander, Principal Consultant, A.R.M Specialists. Security setups are not only in place for the safety of the workers; they safeguard the progress of drilling work and production of raw materials later on. “It is necessary to sit down with the stakeholders to explore the possible infrastructure and conceive various options in terms of technologies, design and budget,” said Patrick Lim, Director of Sales and Marketing, Ademco Far East.
Despite meticulous planning at the preliminary stage, the implemented security systems need to be flexible for system upgrades or expansions. Well-educated security personnel and managers adopt a holistic security approach to satisfy actual needs, as well as future requirements for integration and openness, expandability, scalability, compatibility, modularity, interoperability and network video trends, Liong said.
“The architecture of a well-designed surveillance system should have no boundaries when it comes to expansion, and should be able to adopt new technology and concepts over time,” said Bjorn Songe-Moller, VP of Sales for Scandinavia and Russia, IndigoVision. “A security system for oil and gas facilities must be flexible and the whole system should have no single point of failure.”