British Association of Public Safety Communications Officials

Abstract For decades now the oil companies and the communities they operate in the vicinity of have had a kind of love-hate relationship with many ups and downs on the way. On the one hand the communities love the economic benefit and regional advancement that the oil companies bring in their wake while on the other they decry the real as well as imaginary environmental, health or safety related threats posed by the oil, gas and petrochemical plants operating in their midst. As the population increases with time so does the demand for land required for urban development. This by necessity results in building of residential and commercial areas in close proximity of process plants, refinery and other oil handling facilities. This paper highlights the need for mutual cooperation that must exist amongst all parties concerned: the Company, the urbanization and planning bodies, community leaders, public servants, journalists and industrialists. This cooperation can only materialize through mutual trust which in turn can only be generated through a better understanding by all of the actual risks associated with various oil refining and oil handling facilities and the risk mitigation measure that the Company employs to ensure all real risks are reduced to a level as low as is reasonably practicable. The concept of "zero-risk" being attainable in a process environment is infeasible. For land use decision-making we must apply formal techniques of quantitative risk assessment (QRA) and other recognized risk evaluation methods that are being used by many government organizations in Europe and North America. The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have issued quite comprehensive guidelines on this topic which have found acceptance worldwide. This paper briefly explains how the QRA technique works and provides several real life examples of use of QRA in land use planning in Bahrain. There is an immediate need for rational risk mitigation by the Company and rational risk acceptance by the community -- all for the sake of common national interest and vision for the future. Creation of a joint review board working in an advisory capacity might be the answer.

Abstract In 2007 BAPCO won the prestigious Robert W Campbell award for integrating safety into its primary business processes. The team who reviewed BAPCO processes on behalf of the Awarding agency made specific reference to the excellent quality of HAZOPs that BAPCO had conducted and reported. Such commendation for BAPCO HAZOPs did not come by chance. BAPCO has a very strong and rich tradition in this field; arguably the pioneers in this region. Bert Lawley, inventor of the HAZOP process, published his first paper on the topic in 1976; BAPCO conducted their first HAZOP meeting in as early as 1981! The traditional P&ID (Piping and Instrument Diagram) line-by-line guideword-based HAZOP remains a very powerful tool in the armory of modern designers and engineers in minimizing hazard and operability related concerns from process plants in continuous as well as batch operations. Nonetheless, BAPCO have strengthened its effectiveness through developing some best practices of our own and adopting some recommended by other well-known authorities such as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS). One noteworthy best practice developed by BAPCO is the adoption of a comprehensive list of "Global Parameters." This is generally referred to as the last Node in HAZOPs and it addresses unit-wide or plant-wide concerns related to civil and structural integrity, instrumentation philosophy, fire water system, fireproofing, environmental concerns, reliability, emergency shutdown systems … the list goes on (currently there are 50 items under Global Parameters that BAPCO HAZOPs take into account). In addition to the Global Parameters mentioned above, this paper describes the following best practices that we apply to our HAZOPs: use of specific checklists which will captures all the items that are not covered under Global Parameters, review of emergency inventory isolation block valves, modeling of gas blow-by scenarios, and overpressure protection. HAZOP is a continually improving and evolving process in BAPCO. Our recent contacts with reputable engineering consultants have given us feedback regarding current best practices with EPC companies. We in BAPCO are committed to striving for excellence.

Abstract Devonian Sequence consists of Jubah, Jauf and Tawil Formations and overlain unconformably by the clastics of the Permian Unayzah formation. Jubah is the younger formation in Devonian Sequence; its upper part has silicified sandstones, grey to black carbonaceous shales and coal with thin dolomitic shale/sand beds. Lower part has monotonous sequence of very fine to medium grained thick sandstone beds and subordinate grey siltstone, shale interbeds. Jauf formation underlies Jubah and overlies Tawil formation with conformable contacts. After deposition of Tawil, the shallow marine sands of Jauf formation were deposited over a broad shelf. Jauf reservoir is relatively cleanest and most porous of all pre-Unayzah reservoirs. Jauf is the main reservoir tested for gas in Awali field. Tawil is the older formation in Devonian and is mainly of sandstone with Shale intercalations. Depths of Devonian reservoirs of Awali field are in the range of 10,000 ft to 15,000 ft. Individual porous layers are 5-15 ft thick and alternate with tight well-cemented sandstones or shales. Gas shows were also reported in few drilled wells of Awali in Devonian reservoirs, but production testing was not carried out in these wells. 3D Seismic interpretation has been carried out by using 3D Re-processed PSDM volume. Integration of 3D seismic data and Geological information resulted in preparation of detailed subsurface structural and attribute maps at selected levels. Seismic attributes such as Frequency and Amplitude maps show some anomaly on Jubah, Jauf and Tawil levels, these are indirectly indicating the hydrocarbon reservoir development and also validated with the available Well's test results at Jauf level. Few potential stratigraphic and fault closure traps have also been identified in the flank of the Awali field. The study resulted in identifying potential areas for exploration and supporting the ongoing exploration efforts in surrounding offshore areas for similar gas prospects.