With oil and gas providing the world’s 7 billion people with 60% of their daily energy needs, there is absolutely no doubt that protecting these critical assets is a demanding responsibility, particularly when faced with ever-increasing physical threats and cyberthreats.

Reports by intelligence agencies in a number of countries have clearly identified the oil and gas industry as a target for terrorist attacks. In recent years the average number of attacks on oil and gas targets (facilities and personnel) has totaled the 300 mark.

But threats do not simply come in the form of malicious incursion or deliberate damage intent. Operational failures, theft, extreme weather conditions and process inefficiencies can all have a detrimental impact on oil and gas assets and the economies they serve.

Such a varied range of security, safety and efficiency challenges demands a multifaceted approach to protection, and that is a brief seamlessly delivered by intelligently integrated surveillance solutions.

Protection is paramount
Before exploring this solution in-depth, it is first useful to examine why it is that the oil and gas industry is susceptible to risk.

Sites are attractive targets for external attack: The physical and chemical properties of the materials handled and stored by the oil and gas industry have the potential to cause damage to populations and ecosystems and have significant media impact. The strategic and global nature of the oil and gas industry also means any disruption has serious consequences to the world economy.

Sites are vast and complex: The scale and complexity of oil and gas facilities is hugely challenging. With constant logistical activities and multiple sophisticated and often hazardous processes taking place at any one time, they are challenging environments to monitor.

Locations can be remote: Pipelines, sub-sites and outlying process areas are all common to the sector. Though remote, such facilities are crucial to the oil and gas ecosystem. Yet due to scale, accessibility and economic efficiency, these areas often are unmanned or are bases for skeleton crews only.

Oil and gas is hazardous: It seems an obvious thing to say, but the industry is dangerous. Potential risk to health and safety is high, yet the sector is dependent on an efficient, healthy and motivated workforce. Any threat to them is a threat to overall operations.

Complex needs, overarching solution
The complex mesh of security, safety and operational threats facing oil and gas assets on a daily basis has traditionally been addressed by implementing multiple protection measures and technologies.

Perimeter security, intruder detection systems, process monitoring, workforce communications, access control, emergency incident alarms and site surveillance (spanning hazardous and nonhazardous areas) are all common and necessary. They should be considered and treated as a complete solution, but unfortunately that is not always the case.

Treating them as separate entities to maintain and manage leads to inefficiency (taking more time and manpower) and fragmentation—those operating such systems only see a small part of the puzzle. In such conditions achieving full-site situational awareness becomes an almost impossible task because isolated incidents can never be presented and understood in the broader context of other events.

Intelligently integrated surveillance has the power to address these issues. Open protocol surveillance command and control platforms enable video (analog, digital and thermal cameras), intruder alarms, fire and gas detection, access control, critical asset tracking, and site management systems to be integrated, monitored and managed within a single unified environment.

Automated alerts notify users of any event or combination of events that requires investigation. Such alerts also can trigger prioritized live video footage to aid users in visual verification of threat level.

It is a development that means operators located in a central security center on- or offsite can achieve a 360-degree view of data and events. For example, an integrated solution of this nature can not only detect “obvious” isolated incidents such as a forced perimeter fence breach but also can be programmed to look for specific circumstances, which individually might not mean anything but together signify threat.

In summary, it is an approach that ensures that all sections of an estate—whether isolated, dangerous or cost-inefficient to man—can always be monitored with ease.

Camera choice remains critical
A holistic view of operations that incorporates visual, audio, statistical and numerical data from multiple systems has clear benefits. It is important to give specific mention to camera choice. Visual verification of any event alert (triggered for any number of reasons) can make a vital difference to the reactive protocols that follow.

Cameras for this market should always be certified to international standards and be capable of operating in extreme temperatures and weather conditions. Salt, sand, wind and chemical corrosion are all risks that need to be considered.

It also is essential to consider application and image objective. For example, is a specific camera in a specific location required for process or presence, or is it detail-driven? If detecting machinery malfunctions or equipment efficiencies is the aim, the primary image objective is process-driven. This might mean thermal camera technology is the most appropriate choice, perhaps for monitoring overheating, spillages or highstress areas.

With a virtual tripwire application, however, where detecting any movement within a specified perimeter is key—perhaps as a safety precaution around a hazardous zone—the image objective is most likely presence-driven. In this setting a multispectral camera that can detect movement in any light conditions might be the most suitable to the task in hand.

When using a fully integrated solution for threat detection and incident management, anomalies that require investigation may well initiate from a nonvisual source (e.g., a gas reading or unauthorized access card swipe). But taking steps to safeguard image quality and suitability will ensure that actions taken and evidence gathered are as “visually informed” as possible.

Integrated surveillance in action—Tempa Rossa project
The $1.9 billion Tempa Rossa project, located in southern Italy, is a joint initiative between Total and Shell. Tempa Rossa will comprise eight production wells, a new oil processing center, an LPG storage center (with associated loading points) and updated utilities/distribution infrastructure. It is anticipated that once fully operational, the site will produce 50,000 bbl of oil, 230,000 cu. m (8 MMcf) of gas, 240 tons of LPG and 80 tons of sulfur daily.

The site has adopted an integrated surveillance solution developed and delivered as a partnership between Synectics and Thales in Italy incorporating Synectics’ Synergy command and control platform and more than 80 COEX camera stations (fixed and pan-tilt-zoom) with access control, intruder detections systems, and integrated control and safety systems.

This solution allows the operators to benefit from heightened levels of situational awareness spanning all process, security and safety aspects. The surveillance brief also required fully integrated factory acceptance testing (FAT) prior to deployment.

“In addition to testing the solution in its own dedicated FAT facility, Synectics also created the Synergy macros we needed to allow us to analyze ‘operation-ready’ integration at our Italian site. It’s a partnership that has enabled us to deliver the best result for the client,” said Marco Ficozzi from the R&D department at Thales in Italy.

Synectics’ support for the Tempa Rossa project ensured that high-quality visual data (live or recorded) can always be paired with incident detection alarms to investigate and initiate response procedures. Alerts triggered by people or processes will immediately prioritize image feed from the nearest available cameras. The Synergy command and control platform also will generate scenario-specific workflows to guide operators through appropriate protocols.