The 2nd Asset Integrity and Process Safety Oil & Gas Conference kicked off in Abu Dhabi on June 8 as the latest rally in crude oil price to around $120 per barrel has boosted the economic prospects of the oil exporting countries.
As oil revenues in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region are projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reach $818 billion, $652 billion worth of oil, gas and petrochemicals projects are planned across the region with $200 billion expected to be ploughed into new ventures in the GCC by 2025.
In the UAE specifically, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) recently announced a $127 billion capital spending plan for 2022-2026, as it reported an increase in the UAE’s oil and natural gas reserves.
Increasing outlays
These investments will encourage oil and gas companies to increase their outlays in Asset Integrity and Process Safety Management in order to strengthen the effectiveness and boost the life cycle of the assets in the oil, gas and petrochemical industries, conference attendees believe.
More than 120 delegates including decision makers in asset integrity and process safety, industry experts and key stakeholders in oil and gas sectors have joined the two-day event at the Conrad Abu Dhabi Etihad Towers Hotel in Abu Dhabi, UAE, to share insights and best practices to tackle current and future challenges to achieve productivity gains while meeting safety and environmental standards in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry in the Mena region.
Leila Masinaei, Managing Partner, Great Minds Event Management, the organiser of the 2nd Asset Integrity and Process Safety Oil & Gas Conference, says: “The latest rally in oil price will not only increase the revenues of the oil exporting countries, but also increase investment in oil and gas assets to improve the asset quality and extend life cycle.
Assessing opportunities
“In this context, this regional conference is crucial in assessing the opportunities and I am glad that a considerable in number of industry stakeholders have gathered here in Abu Dhabi – a major oil and gas hub in the region, where $127 billion investment has been committed by Adnoc.
“The 2nd Asset Integrity and Process Safety Oil & Gas Conference is taking place at the very right time, when everyone from the industry need to explore the opportunities.”
Steve Matthews, Integrity Manager at Petrofac and Conference Chairman, said: “Pro-active integrity management and process safety system ensures improved asset performance, risk reduction, enhanced process safety, lower operational cost and asset life extension.”
Safety culture
Mohammed AlGhazal, CEO of Noor Energies, said: “Organisational culture of asset integrity and process safety is crucial to ensure best asset integrity. It is a differentiator in safety culture. However, technology and remote work culture has also become very important in asset integrity following Covid-19 pandemic.
“Asset integrity and process safety is not a destination, but a continuous journey. Technology is reshaping the asset integrity and process safety in order to optimise operational excellence.”
Martin Robinson, Founder and CEO of IRISS, said, a well-defined asset integrity system can pay back 40% of TCR in an oil refinery. “So, it is a huge savings. Designing for Safety and Reliability can ensure a huge savings in asset integrity and process safety and industries should ensure this.”
Enhancing efficiencies
“Despite the region’s strong appetite for directing more funds to petrochemicals, especially for planned commitments, it makes more sense under current market conditions to focus on enhancing cost and operating efficiencies rather than absolute expansion – thus to favour brownfield vs. greenfield projects,” according to the Mena Energy Investment Outlook 2021-2025 issued by Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (Apicorp), reflecting the need for refocusing on the asset integrity and asset quality in oil and gas sector.
The global market size, measured by revenue, of the Global Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry is $5 trillion in 2022 and expected to increase 27.5% by end of 2022. The market size of the Global Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry has grown 12.3% per year on average between 2017 and 2022, faster than the economy overall.
As oil and gas and petrochemical sectors are capital intensive, maintaining optimal performance levels are critical to sustain profitability. Asset integrity and process safety are strongly interrelated and of significant importance as they play a key role in anticipating and preventing events in advance and recommend appropriate action plans for optimal performance. It is always critical to have safe and smooth operations of oil and gas facilities and installations, from oil fields and offshore platforms to pipelines and refineries.
More than 25 speakers
More than 25 speakers, 10+ countries are participating in the forum. The participants include decision-makers, directors, heads and specialists from asset integrity, operations, pipeline integrity, maintenance, corrosion, business continuity planning, process safety, design and engineering, digital transformation, plant management, automation, information technology, data analytics and data science and many other departments from the oil and gas and petrochemicals industry.
The 2nd Asset Integrity and Process Safety Oil & Gas Conference, is supported by IRISS, among other leading players.-- TradeArabia News Service