Iraq has begun to develop its oil and natural gas reserves after years of sanctions and wars, but it will need to develop its infrastructure in order to reach its production potential, according to the EIA.
According to estimates by Iraq’s deputy prime minister for Energy, capital expenditures of $30 billion per year in Iraqi energy infrastructure are required to meet Iraq’s production targets. Progress has been hampered by political disputes and the lack of a law to govern development of Iraq’s oil and gas. The proposed Hydrocarbon Law, which would govern contracting and regulation, has been under review in the Council of Ministers since October 26, 2008, but has not received final passage.
Society rightfully expects clean and safe energy supplies to flow without interruption or incident. When things go wrong, society looks to the operators and regulators and asks, ‘how can this be allowed to happen?’ Iraq country needs to progress its infrastructure safely to enhance oil recovery and supply, according to Lloyds Register Energy.
With equipment and systems increasingly ‘safe by design’, understanding the real influence that country and work-place culture has on maintaining and improving safety standards is critical. The increasingly integrated and complex nature of modern operating systems and processes requires comprehensive levels of technical understanding and experience; most often one project requires the skills of more than one person.
“Employee familiarity with a state-of-the-art warning systems is just as important as the ability of the system itself. Just as having the expertise to recognise when an asset is not performing safely means little if company employees lack the courage or management culture to report it. To provide effective technical risk management and a secure energy supply, companies operating locally need a deep knowledge of how people, plant and process interact – and the integrity to exercise clear judgement,” said Jason Knights, global communications manager, Lloyd’s Register Energy.
Confronted by challenges, complexities, uncertainties and opportunities, it is easy to lose sight of a simple fact: local operators that fully assess their risks over the long term are better able to manage them strategically. Integrity of operating assets in Iraq across the entire supply chain and of people and processes is the ‘confidence factor’ – where safety drives the best performing companies. Without it, the whole process can easily degenerate into a regime where safety and reliability is degraded by cost cutting, short-term energy policies and short term industry performance goals to meet immediate production targets. Delivering effective integrity and risk management with the support of independent risk management expertise is vital to Iraq’s oil and gas industry’s success and safe evolution.
“Such collaborations between stakeholders, that introduce valuable core competencies into the industry, will redefine industry perceptions of safety and foster important dialogue about energy supply and demand issues,” said Knights.
