Why is this important?
Process Safety Management (PSM) is fundamental to the moral and business obligations of the company. The consequences of a process safety incident may not only result in a loss of life but can seriously damage the value of the business.
PSM involves the proactive identification, analysis, evaluation and safeguarding of releases of hazardous substances and process accidents that could occur because of failures in process technology, procedures, or equipment. Costs resulting from a failure to manage are far reaching to the business and will take significant time to recover financially as well as reputationally within the industry and public domain.
Our commitment
Maintain a leading position for the Process Safety Event Rate hierarchy, around 0.18. We strive for the continuous improvement of our safety performance, reflected in the continuous knowledge improvement and experience sharing in the process safety domain, we maintain our external collaboration with high-profile organizations European Process Safety Center (EPSC – an industry funded network with the role to provide an independent forum for the leadership and support of process safety within Europe). OMV Petrom is part of Technical Steering Committee and a series of working groups including PS Fundamentals, Digitalization, Semi-quantitative Risk Evaluation Methods and Energy Transition.
OMV Petrom is part of the Center of Chemical Process Safety Beacon (CCPS) project. The monthly newsletter on process safety topics is delivered to company employees as lessons learnt from PS experience from other companies and industries.
We are continuously monitoring the leading and lagging indicators to ensure major hazard risks are reduced as much as possible. Tier 1 and Tier 2 Process Safety Events (PSEs) are considered as having the highest significance and are to be reported externally for industry benchmarking. These events are measured annually for a consistent overview of the Company’s process safety performance. As part of the Group, we have adapted the four-tier framework of process safety KPIs in alignment with American Petroleum Institute (API), (recommended Practice 754) and IOGP Report 456.
Process safety is one of OMV Petrom’s highest priority, and we allocate all the resources needed, both human and financial, to minimize the risk of major accidents occurrence.
The organization has dedicated process safety teams who are implementing the projects and activities, in line with the Process Safety Management system requirements, which is aligned with the Group HSSE Directive and the Group Management System.
Our Major Accident Prevention Policy defines the way in which process safety incidents could be prevented.
The PSM system covers all activities which are recommended by relevant legislations and best available practices.
In E&P, the dedicated resources and focus on reducing risk at facilities and pipeline networks are prioritized by analyzing risks in the Integrated Risk Register (IGRR). The IGRR inclusion has enabled Senior Management to have visibility of where the highest Risks are, and where to prioritize the allocation of resources.
Gaps in process safety management at facility level are identified, mitigated and resolved by developing and implementing actions from process safety road maps for all of our facilities.
Process safety performance is periodically reviewed during the Safety Task Force meetings at different levels in organization where projects, initiatives, objectives and KPIs are discussed, and decisions are made.
Process safety performance is presented and reviewed by the top management and the senior management of the company during the quarterly Safety Task Force.
Process safety pyramid and dashboard is quarterly developed. A Process Safety Annual Report is developed at asset/refinery level and provides a clear overview of process safety related performance at local level.
All PSEs are registered and monitored in the Synergi reporting system, and a quality check of the data is performed on a monthly basis. The scope of this quality check process is to enhance the process safety incident reporting, which makes the analysis process more efficient in generating meaningful conclusions on performance, leading to the identification of improvement actions to prevent the reoccurrence of such incidents.
All Tier 1 and 2 PSEs are investigated, and lessons learnt are disseminated within the organization. All incidents are identified and promptly reported. We also monitor Process Safety Tier 3 events to assess the performance of barriers to process safety events and obtain an overview of challenges the safety systems are facing. The aim is to identify and correct weaknesses within the barriers at facility level.
Audits are performed for Major Accident Events (MAE) and legal compliance verification.
Spill prevention
The wells are designed in accordance with the industry standards, and a Well Integrity Management System is in place to guarantee that the technical integrity of wells is preserved throughout their life cycle, and that oil leaks are avoided.
We apply internal and industry standards when designing wells, such as the OMV Petrom Well Engineering Technical Standard including OMV Petrom Technical Requirement, i.e., for Casing Design and Operational Well Barrier Integrity, the OMV Petrom Well Management Systems for the well lifecycle internal documents, in line with international standards: API, ISO 16530 and NORSOK. Blowout preventer (BOP) is an important safety device for offshore drilling. BOPs are installed and tested for each drilling and workover program. We run cement bond logs after drilling new wells, to get an image of cement quality. For the active wells, we perform visual inspections frequently, and functional testing of the valves occurs periodically according to the Offshore Operations schedules.
The Company complies with the Directive 2013/30/EU on safety offshore oil and gas operations. The objective of this Directive is to reduce as far as possible the occurrence of major accidents, and to limit their environmental consequences in case of an event. An independent verification body issues annual well integrity reports during our drilling and workover operations.
Digital Tool for Well Integrity
Enhanced monitoring for spill prevention have been implemented in OMV Petrom through an industry-recognized digital tool for well Integrity set up to assess each well integrity risks, to prioritize the inspections and implement the appropriate risk reduction measures. By the end of 2022, the number of wells digitally monitored from an integrity point of view reached 4,000 units, representing 53% from the total of 7,500 active wells in operation.
Pipeline integrity
We continued to focus on the Pipeline Integrity Management Program in E&P and embedded the Integrated Risk Register in our current activities, which helps us prioritize the interventions to the high-risk pipelines. The Pipeline Inspection program is also functional and is expanding to include all categories of pipelines. The results obtained support us in planning the priorities in the next inspection period.
Through cleaning, inspecting, and adding inhibitor chemicals along with modern corrosion monitoring techniques, the integrity and durability of our pipelines will be improved by the implementation of the Corrosion Management Plans created in 2020/ 2021. A Pipeline Inspection program is in place, managed and planned within the SAP Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). In addition, OMV Petrom continues to reduce the number of kilometers of pipelines through several field optimization projects, which will reduce the exposure risk by removing numerous aging pipelines whilst maintaining optimal production.
We organize various process safety training, workshops and knowledge sharing events, to ensure our staff is qualified for the job. We make use of the Process Safety Network, the online platform that helps us to better communicate and share knowledge with our colleagues across the Group.
The Annual HSSE plans include the process safety initiatives, prioritized and budgeted accordingly.
The actions are included in the HSSE Strategy and annual Plans, Safety Leadership Program and Safety Culture Program, Continuous improvement of process safety management, Learning from incidents.
A Process Safety roadmap was developed to further improve process safety performance. Starting with 2022, we performed the integration of a risk reduction plan for the years 2022 – 2025 into all existing and new PS roadmaps, including MTP approval to close out IGRR Actions to reduce PS risk exposure by 80% until end of 2025 (based on IGRR status end of year 2021). The roadmap includes the improvement of process safety skills and competences of employees and relevant contractors, by using Process Safety CBT (computer-based training) modules in a training program. On a quarterly basis the implementation of the process safety initiatives and objectives are monitored, and feedback is sent to OMV Petrom business divisions.
In 2022, we worked specifically on:
- Training on Process safety topics for Retail business unit (around 60 people trained)
- Developing Process safety roadmaps and SMART actions within PS roadmaps for facilities without roadmap
- Improving quality of Process safety reporting in Synergi by quality checks and providing feedback to the reporters
- Improving quality of data in IGRR (integrated risk register) by quarterly review
- Knowledge sharing in Process safety by quarterly Group Process safety network workshops/meetings
- Increasing awareness and competency of our own people and contractors using Process safety Computer based training Program
- Integrating risk reduction actions/plans in new and existing Process Safety Roadmaps
- Legal compliance audits as per approved audit plan (including occupational and process safety topics) – 3 audits conducted
The following key Process Safety indicators were established, with actions developed for E&P:
- 12 Process Safety Road Maps per Asset for onshore facilities (for offshore it was completed in 2022)
- Quarterly IGRR updates, including High and Medium Risk for all actions resulting from safety studies and safety audits
- 11 high risk pipelines replaced by the end of 2022
- Development of 45 Corrosion Management Plans for pipelines, facilities and new projects
- Process Safety Computer based training and Management of Change quality checks
Audits in 2022
As a continuation of Audits commenced with desktop reviews, site visits were conducted at Petromar Offshore and Poiana Lacului Tank Farm (Asset Valahia). The reports were finalized and issued with recommendations, and the action plans were developed and are monitored on a monthly basis for timely close out, budget allocation, including the monitoring of highly critical actions in the IGRR, for overall prioritization.
From a legal compliance perspective, 3 audits were conducted in Assets Muntenia and Moldova and in the Operation Business Unit (Local Ploiești Office) from the G&P business division.
In R&M, the effective integrity management of Petrobrazi Refinery is supported by a clear program of inspections, established to ensure maximizing the operational life of the equipment, as well as safe and legal provisions for reducing all the identified risks. This practice continued in 2022 with key inspections programed for piping, vessels, boilers, atmospheric and pressurized tankage and pipelines. The Asset Integrity Data Assistant (AIDA), is the SAP system module in place that supports relevant data management from the recording and tracking of inspection results to relevant open cases for proper maintenance and remediation.
See details in our section Performance in detail.
| PSE Rate Benchmark | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
| EPSC all results (API & ICCA & CEFIC) | 0.98 | 0.84 | 1.2 | 10 | 1.1 |
| EPSC only ICCA | 1.71 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 1 |
| EPSC only API | 0.39 | 0.34 | 0.53 | 0.51 | 0.72 |
| OMV Petrom | 0.14 | 0.11 | 0.11 | 0.13 | 0.06 |
| Process Safety Events | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| Tier 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Tier 2 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| Total | 3 | 8 | 7 | 7 |
In 2022 the number of Process safety events (Tier 1 and Tier 2) decreased from 8 in 2021 to 3 in 2022 (2 Tier 1 and 1 Tier 2 PS events). These are the results of implementation of PS plans, initiatives and specific activities in all business divisions.
The PSE rate in 2022 is 0.051.
We will continue the Process safety improvement actions, projects and initiatives according to the 2023 HSSE Plan, which includes developing new Process Safety Roadmaps, and the continuation of the following:
- Execution of actions defined in existing Process Safety Roadmaps
- Quarterly update of IGRR
- Performance of Management of Change (MoC) Quality audits according to audit plan and report quality in Synergi
- Implementation of PHA Compliance monitoring in Synergi including collecting data (type and date of study) on PHA studies and developing a PHA program for facilities without PHA study
- Improvement of Process safety skills and competences employees and relevant contractors by a Process Safety training program for period 2022 – 2025 using existing Process Safety CBT (computer-based training) modules
- Improvement of the quality of process safety reporting in Synergi by training, quality check of process safety entries in Synergi and providing feedback to the reporters”