Study on a Proactive Approach towards Environment Management in Oil and Gas Industry
Abstract
Managing Environmental Risk for onshore Oil and Gas exploration and production is a challenging task because many drilling and other techniques are complex in this industry. In this it is described the implementation and the use of environmental risk management and mitigation strategies for onshore oil and gas projects. To eliminate any risk of contamination the potential impact of the operations and identification of mitigation procedures are followed. It provides a framework for the future environmental management of the area in order to minimize the negative impacts of operations.
The extraction and transportation of both Oil and Natural Gas has a scope of important risks for both workers from these activities by accidents at work and people from neighboring villages (major accident) and for the environment. This paper describes the theoretical considerations regarding the implementation of concept of environmental risk in their activities in Oil and Gas industry and also emphasized on the aspects of managing environmental risk in Oil and Gas industry. Questionnaire survey was conducted for the senior level executives of all installations visited of ONGC, Western – Region and analysis was done in order to identify the environmental risk taking place in Oil and Gas industry and what are the safety measures taken into consideration for managing it.
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Introduction
Oil and Gas industry operations occur round the globe, in diverse range of habitats and ecosystems. These operations often place enormous pressures on the local environment and inhabitants, and as global population growth continues to rise, so too does the demand for usable energy and resources. Since last decade, consumption and production increased for all fuel types, surpassing previously record high levels for all fuels accept nuclear. For fossil fuels, global consumption rose further rapidly than overall production, resulting in a controlled production pressured for oil and gas companies. Meeting the rising global energy demand comes with higher risks and costs to both society and the environment. Oil and Gas companies thus face the challenge of meeting the world’s expanding energy demand while minimizing the negative externalities associated with these operations. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) continuously ensures care and protect for the environment. So, in 1983, ONGC exhibited dynamic environmental management through its integrated Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Policy formulation. HSE policy is integrated in ONGC’s vision and mission. ONGC incorporates a sturdy method of checking regular audit and management review of Quality Health Safety and Environment (QHSE) management system, policy and maps risks. For the initiation of any new project or modification within the existing project Environment Clearance is that the legal demand needed. The appliance of environmental clearance and a few study reports like Environmental Impact Assessment studies, Disaster Plans, etc. are submitted to The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). MoEF is the nodal agency within the body structure of the Central Government for planning, promotion, coordination, and overseeing the implementation of India's environmental and forestry policies, and programmes.
Conclusion
Oil and gas companies often face extreme pressures to provide the world with its global energy needs while maintaining an excellent environmental performance record. While international and national regulations provide a partial solution to addressing global environmental threats from oil and gas exploration, production and refining activities, the degree of success of this legislation has been limited. As environmental issues become a more integral concern of the global community, the increased pressure is put onto these energy companies to adjust practices in a way that minimizes threats to the environment.
Companies like ONGC have found a way to successfully tackle the environmental issues associated with daily energy activities. By embedding environmental considerations into all units within and operations of the company, ONGC is able to focus employee attention on minimizing the probability of a detrimental incident. ONGC is further prepared because in the event that an environmental situation does arise, the internal emergency response team is knowledgeable of the operational risks and has a plan in place to alleviate the impacts as quickly and fully as possible. By creating an integrated risk management approach, ONGC is able to follow the objectives publicized to its employees and shareholders with the daily risk management approaches that are carried out by all member of the corporation. ONGC continues to excel in terms of its environmental performance as it now sets a company wise objective of having “zero incidents” occur at each operating unit.
While ONGC is just one player in the oil and gas industry, the continued success of its internal environmental risk management approaches has caused other large corporations to embrace similar objectives practices. ONGC follows all the statutory rules, regulations, standards and guidelines. ONGC uses various strategies such as EIA, TOR, MOEF guidelines, GPCB & CPCB consents, Site response plan, HSE & QHSE guidelines etc. to maintain the environmental risks. As more companies adopt systematic environmental analysis approaches, companies that have yet to adapt are pressured into compliance with these newly established voluntary standards. Ensuring compliance with voluntary standards within the oil and gas industry is much simple than globally enforcing and monitoring national and international regulations because companies are competing to efficiently produce energy while maintaining a positive environmental reputation. Companies that drive environmental regulations within the industry gain a competitive advantage over the other energy companies in the market.
While uncertainty is a major challenge with all risks pertaining to business operations, environmental risks pose some of the greatest threats to corporations. Even though the likelihood of an event is low, the consequences of an incident are extremely high. The occurrence of such an event has the ability to halt business production and thus extinguish revenue streams, brand image from negative publicity and increase the number of industry and making it challenging for the corporation to stay ahead of industry regulations. Therefore, addressing environmental concerns at early stages when prevention costs are low as opposed to dealing with the consequences and excessive fines after an event is critical for these large energy corporations to maintain a competitive edge in this industry. ONGC regulates environment clearance for the initiation of new project or modification in the existing project. ONGC follows PDCA cycle or Deming Cycle management method for the control and continuous improvement in products and processes. ONGC prioritize Environmental Protection as business functions. ONGC was successful in achieving QHSE certification for all the installations.
Embedding environmental considerations into daily operations may continue to be an effective route to dealing with the environmental risks associated with oil and gas operations. Energy companies will constantly face the challenge of minimizing environmental impacts while maximizing shareholder value and so have to adopt a process the effectively and efficiently enables them to try do both. Integrating environmental risk management processes into all aspects of oil and gas activities may be challenging for some corporations, but if these companies approach environmental risks in the same manner as other business risks and capital projects, then developing, implementing and enforcing a company specific management framework should not be a challenge. Although it is complicated to eliminate all risks affiliated with energy related activities, the addition of internal environmental risk management approaches with existing national and international regulations may prove to be an effective method for combating global environmental concerns.