Oilfield and infrastructure security in the Middle East is a complex and ever-evolving problem for operators, as Matthew High discovers.
Nearly half of the world’s known crude oil reserves are located in the Middle East, and with global demand for energy set to grow by as much as 50 per cent by 2020 and beyond protecting the oilfields and associated infrastructure that serve this industry will prove vital. Increasing political tensions in the region combined with the local and global economic importance of this critical infrastructure is making security for oil companies a growing, and increasingly complex issue.
Furthermore, oilfields in the Middle East are at risk from numerous and varied threats due to a shifting and evolving threat landscape. No longer are terrorists the only concern, companies now must work to protect their assets from activists and protestors, national and international pressure groups, individual attacks, competing or growing political movements, offshore pirates, theft, pipeline sabotage, and more recently IT attacks from cyber terrorists and hackers.
Of course, the diversity of the threat to oilfields and oil infrastructure is equalled by the diversity of the region itself, with one of the key challenges for oil companies deploying into the field being the broad threat landscape from country to country.
“The region is immensely diverse, you simply cannot compare the security landscape of the UAE or Oman with that of Iraq of Libya,” says Geoff Moore, chief technology officer at security solutions business Red Solutions.
“There lies one of the key problems of security in the Middle East, the manufacturers and end users still haven’t fully grasped the nature of the environment into which their products are being deployed. Providing a security solution for an Abu Dhabi oil company is little different from deploying any industrial system in the West, whereas deploying absolutely anything in places that are actively hostile, or culturally or climatically challenging requires a totally different approach, which heightens the security challenge.”
While the geopolitical and social risks vary enormously, the one factor that remains the same is the vulnerability and the potential value of oilfields or oil installations as a target for attack. These assets represent a part of a country’s critical infrastructure – for many of the smaller, emerging nations in the region they are the prime source of income, a link to the major global economies and a potential focal point for disrupting key centres of power and influence.
Consequently intelligence agencies the world over have always placed oilfields and assets in the high-risk category. Recent unrest and political upheaval has only worsened the security challenge for companies.
“It has always been insecure here, with risks to businesses varying from region to region, but recently the whole of the Middle East has seen tensions rise and problems boiling up,” Ayman Kabbara, general manager for energy Balkans, Africa, Middle East and Central Asia at CEVA Logistics, explains.
“There is particular concern recently as to the possible threats and security risks for the future. The whole area is being reshaped, so one of the main issues for oil companies is that you never know what is going to happen, which makes it hard to plan security programmes effectively. At any time new borders, new governments or even new monarchies can appear.”
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“Fear of unrest has certainly been a motivator behind some of the initiatives that we’ve seen in the sector and tenders being launched for security projects throughout the region,” Geoff agrees. That being said, oil companies have been improving their security continuously, with many of the long-established majors from Europe and the US adhering to their own corporate standards, and local legislation and regulation growing rapidly too.
Companies like Red Solutions are at the forefront of providing integrated security solutions to operators, which as Geoff points out, encompasses a range of systems including end-to-end designed and built packages covering surveillance technology, access control, identity management, entrance control, physical hardening of structures, voice communications, perimeter intrusion detection and advanced screening technologies.
Importantly, as the threat to oilfields increases, so too have oil companies employed the use of more state-of-the-art surveillance and security equipment, particularly automated technology. This is extremely valuable for oilfields in the typically remote locations hosting E&P in the Middle East to provide an accurate, timely and appropriate response to threat.
“Building impenetrable barriers around these assets is simply not a viable option in the majority of instances,” Geoff adds. “Instead, we believe it vital to use systems that deliver real business benefit to the end user, so going beyond the traditional boundaries of a security system, providing the previously mentioned solutions and building the underlying infrastructure to connect it all together. This is the best way to ensure a company can manage the security demands of a whole site.”
Oilfields can be vast assets located in remote, often hostile or isolated regions, which is when automated security solutions can play a vital role. Technology is an increasingly essential component to effectively monitor and protect a field by providing superior levels of detection and classification of targets and threats.
However, any strong security system relies on integration, and while automation of security technology is undoubtedly vital companies must still employ ‘boots on the ground’ – as Geoff says “security systems don’t put criminals into prison, they’re just the tools that facilitate the security personnel to do that.”
Where automation is playing a vital role is alongside people, eradicating human error, making the monitoring and understanding of potential threats simpler and therefore easier to react to, providing consistency in reaction to a threat that may only occur infrequently, and providing an impassive, incorruptible system of security management for an oil field.
To ensure the best protection for Middle Eastern oilfields companies must focus on improving and integrating security personnel in line with the growth of automated technological systems. Security experts agree that companies cannot rely on one without the other, that an effective security system consists of properly trained people who can use the information that is presented to them from the technology employed in the field.
Just as security technology develops however, the threat landscape for oil companies never stands still. One of the most recent and biggest risks to oil companies comes not from terrorists or protesters but from individuals with a computer – cyber terrorism. While it may be thought that this would only be aimed at the IT nerve centres of oil companies (think databanks, seismic and geological data, and exploration and production data) the modern oil field is just as vulnerable to cyber attack.
“At present there are not that many physical security companies that actually fully understand and have a true grip on the cyber risks to oilfields and oil installations,” comments Justin Lowe, an energy cyber security expert at PA Consulting Group.
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“In the Middle East there really hasn’t been much of an emphasis on cyber security at all – only two years ago the Shamoon virus hit Saudi Aramco causing considerable damage to its business and requiring a week to restore the company’s devices. Until then cyber security just wasn’t on the radar for Middle Eastern companies.”
Many experts predict that cyber attacks could be the predominant security risk to oil and gas companies in the future. This could be particularly concerning for fast-developing Middle East oilfield technology, much of which is new, state-of-the-art software controlled equipment that is highly vulnerable to these attacks, yet has little protection against them.
“Because cyber security has only been developing over the last ten years or so there haven’t been firm regulations in place around it, and while some of the Middle East countries have started to build protection into their critical oil, production, and development infrastructure much of the latest equipment in use in the region is at risk,” Justin says.
This could pose a problem to the increasing use of automation technology for security at Middle East oilfields, as Justin explains, “most security nowadays is still focused on physical systems, so electronic or automated solutions and critical access control. Now, if as an attacker you are able to hack into a physical security system then you don’t need to explode bombs or throw hand grenades, you just need to open the doors as you have the power to unlock them.”
Oilfields are equally as vulnerable to cyber attack, being intrinsically linked to the overall command and control centre of an oil company and being largely controlled by automated control and command equipment. It’s a vital area that companies must address in the coming years, and one that has lacked attention in the Middle East. If a business is vulnerable to cyber attack no amount of fences, surveillance equipment, cameras or automated technology will be able to prevent an attack.
Ultimately securing the Middle East’s oilfields is not as simple as eradicating one threat or using one security solution. Oil and gas companies must employ a myriad of systems, both state-of-the-art technology and men on the ground to form an integrated solution, which experts agree is the essential approach.
As Ayman says, “oil will continue to be the strongest driving force of the global economy,” and for as long as this continues, oil companies must continue to drive ahead with developing and implementing the best security solutions possible to protect their assets.
