AUGUST 28 ― The state of the world that we live in ― climate change, fresh water depletion, ocean over-fishing, deforestation, air and water pollution is growing in tandem to the global economy growth and the struggle to feed a planet of billions in the next 30-50 years. How do we balance the need to survive with the depletion and pollution of our natural resources? The need to do so is at a critical level more so now than ever.
While natural catastrophes such as tsunamis, earthquakes, typhoons, eruptions and climate changes are unavoidable to a certain degree, we are at a point in humanity where we should be learning from our past mistakes and not repeat human induced disasters. Sadly, history has shown us time and time again that we are our own danger.
In 1984, a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India released 30 metric tons of methyl isocyanite into the atmosphere. Years before the accident, the Union Carbide India Limited chemical plant was in extremely poor condition and had broken dozens of safety regulations. The errors which accumulated in time eventually triggered a safety release system which emptied a storage tank in the air. The release spread highly toxic chemicals over Bhopal and the neighbouring areas. Official death count by the Indian government is 3,787 bodies. However, unofficial records state 8,000 deaths or more were tied to the disaster.
More than a decade later in 2010, what is considered the worst oil spill in history happened. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in the sea leaving the drill hole completely open. Petrol began to blow out directly into the waters, and discharged 780,000 cubic metres of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, claiming seven lives. The US managed to cap it 87 days later but in the following years scientists continue to pile up reports of the catastrophic effects. From mutated fish to closed beaches from washed petrol ashore, more and more damage just keeps surfacing. The oil is now soaked up in the environment and food and water resources. It’s described as the biggest health crisis in the US.
While the environment and the nearby communities take a battering over countless oil spills, pipeline leaks and explosions, it’s the disasters closer to home that are the most worrying to us.
Australia witnessed one of the largest oil spills in its history affecting the waters of Southeast Asia almost 10 years ago. The communities in the surrounding Indonesian provinces were worst hit by the oil spill. The effects of that oil spill are still being felt till today, from health issues to loss off livelihood due to the destruction of seaweed farms. In 2016, 13,000 seaweed farmers launched a massive class-action suit demanding for compensation for the oil spill.
In 2018, Pertamina made headlines with the damage caused by a burst pipeline in Balikpapan Bay. The 20-year old pipeline carried crude oil from East Kalimantan and ran along the bottom of Balikpapan Bay. The oil also caught fire, releasing black smoke over the nearby city of Balikpapan with a population of 700,000. Five people have been killed from the fire. The city itself declared a state of emergency with over 1,000 people reporting nausea and breathing problem due to the smoke caused by a fire on the spill.
More recently, in just over one year since the last disaster, Pertamina made headlines again with the oil leak beneath its Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) offshore platform located two kilometres north of Karawang, West Java. It’s reported to be fully contained only by March 2020, and may take at least half a year for environmental recovery efforts. The 84km oil slick is projected to spread further due to winds.
It’s been a month since the leak started and residents have reportedly begun to bear the brunt of the damages, one month after it occurred. To date it has reportedly affected 13 villages and waters north of Jakarta, threatening the livelihoods and health of at least 7,800 people.
To contain the oil spill, Pertamina has deployed 37 monitoring ships and stretched out more than 2,000 meters of static oil booms, a temporary floating barrier used to reduce the pollution on shorelines. To help in recovery efforts it has also hired United States well control company Boots & Coots, which handled the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
While countermeasures are in place to contain the leak and repair damage at the same time, what actually led to the leak in the first place? Was it a failure in safety regulations, structural issues, incompetency or weak procedures? The Indonesian government has recently initiated an investigation into the leak.
Meanwhile in Malaysia, the local oil and gas (O&G) sector, to a large degree has been spared the fate of many of our neighbours, not due to good fortune, but to well managed disaster risk mitigation in oil and gas projects in the country by the national oil company and its experienced and dedicated workforce.
It’s interesting to note that a significant portion of oil and gas from the country comes from the Sabah and Sarawak region. In the last almost five decades, the safety, health and risk management of the sector has been responsibly and well managed by the national oil company through the implementation of a culture of safety.
More recently, with newer players in the Bornean states clamouring for increased or full control of the oil and gas industry in their respective states, can these untested new entrants continue to maintain the impeccable safety track record and culture that is so vital to the future and sustainability of the industry and its contribution to the nation?
We need to understand that O&G projects take several years to complete and involve large capital outlays. With cost pressures continuing to have a lasting effect on this industry, achieving the maximum value from the exploration and production process remains crucial. While lucrative at its best, profit margins in the oil and gas industry have proven to be extremely volatile. Driven by a stronger focus on growth and profitability today, oil and gas companies cannot cut their way to growth, especially not at the expense of health, safety and the environment (HSE).
HSE, termed as a holistic approach of managing workplace hazards, involves protecting the health and welfare of people and the environment from adverse impacts due to human and industrial activities. If followed diligently with no compromises, this could be the key to avoiding massive scale disasters. A project should only be termed successful if it meets not just the technical performance specifications, but the degrees to which the general conditions promote the completion of a project without major accidents or injuries.
As oil and gas will get more push from the government this year due to its potential growth amid rising exploration and production (E&P) activities, maintaining safety and managing risks through continuous asset monitoring and connected technologies that can highlight equipment failures and operational issues before they contribute to disaster, becomes paramount. It’s clearly no child’s play as accidents in the O&G industry can have catastrophic effects on people, the environment, assets and reputation. Safety of the industry requires long term commitment, experience and professionalism and there is a risk that new players may end up compromising on safety as the cost of maintenance and risk management in the industry is high.
Every man-made disaster, every oil spill is different, but what characterises them is the untold and lasting economic, financial, health and environmental impact to communities. And while our planet has shown a remarkable ability to bounce back from some of these disasters, will it be as resilient today as it was several decades ago? Can we afford to compromise by taking that risk?
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
