Threats to the energy sector grow as piracy and terrorism wreak havoc on safety, security and profits

Thursday, Nov 27, 2008

Aberdeen, UK – The current crisis in the Gulf of Aden has drawn the world into a drama that has been the reality for those who work in the energy sector for over a decade. In the last year the number of incidents of piracy has exploded with estimates of incidents in the Gulf of Aden hot zone numbering in the thousands.

While the recent high-jacking of the Sirius Star has made headlines worldwide there are other insidious threats that are plaguing the energy sector. Things like pipeline terrorism, kidnapping, and cyber terrorism are all dangers of working in this volatile industry.

The energy sector is particularly vulnerable because of the sensitivity of their cargo.  This creates risks for personnel and infrastructure in production, processing and transportation of oil and gas.  

How to handle these threats is a point of much debate. Some are calling for possible partnership with governments, others like Tim Reilly of C2G Energy feel it’s time to introduce the private defence industry into Energy security as a potential partner to Big Oil, and create a new model of assurance. In a recent letter to the Financial Times Reilly wrote “Unlike the private security industry, defence has the commercial scale, national security clearance with defence ministries, technology and geographical footprint to create such a preventative model as a solution to this growing economic problem, essentially, one of security of supply”

Reilly will be addressing the delegation of IQPC’s Energy Security Summit (www.energysecuritysummit) in January along with 17 other industry experts offering leadership to executives who are faced with a growing number and diversity of threats.

According to Reilly, “security of supply bottlenecks are everywhere, not just in shipping…this is an emerging economic security problem in the C21 that affects not only the safety of personnel but corporate reputations, and increasingly raises liability and possible legislation issues for operators”, he goes on to say “the question here is what new strategy is there for the protection of oil and gas as an industry?”

The Energy Security Summit taking place 26 & 27 January 2009 in London will offer delegates a forum to benchmark with other security executives and benefit from case studies and panel discussions. Other speakers at the summit include:

·         Robert Stephan, Assistant Secretary, US Department of Homeland Security

·         Walied Shater, Director of Security, Middle East and North Africa, ConocoPhillips

·         Alfio Rapisarda, Regional Security Adviser, Eni

·         George Robinson, Chief Security Officer, Petrotrin

·         Magnus Ek, Group Security Manager, Vattenfall

Visit www.energysecuritysummit.com for a detailed agenda and full speaker list or email enquire@iqpc.co.uk.

About IQPC

With offices in 12 countries over 6 continents, IQPC is the world's leading provider of strategic business intelligence delivered through senior-level, networking conferences. Together with our sister company, WBR, we have educated and trained over two million executives at over 40,000 conferences and training courses worldwide since 1973.

IQPC’s Oil and Gas division, Oil & Gas IQ, provides over 100 technical and strategic events across Europe, Asia, the US and the Middle East every year, educating almost 5,000 high-level executives annually. Through our website, e-newsletter and conferences we seek to keep the industry in the know about the latest issues that affect your bottom line. Our members and delegates benefit from a culmination of 100% industry research and practical information and tools that solve critical everyday business problems.

Source: IQPC