BP 2011 Annual Report Download - page 68

66 BP Annual Report and Form 20-F 2011
Business review
All of our operations, with the exception of those recently acquired, are
now applying our OMS to govern their BP operations and have begun
working to achieve conformance to standards and practices required by
OMS through the performance improvement cycle process. This includes
our global wells organization and global projects organization which were
set up in 2011. See page 69 for information about joint ventures.
Conformance and continuous improvement
The application of a comprehensive management system such as OMS
across a global company is an ongoing process. OMS defines the process
for BP operations to apply and conform to required standards and practices
on an ongoing basis, as well as to continuously improve their operational
performance. Every year, after the initial gap assessment, as part of the
annual performance improvement cycle each operating unit – for example,
a region like the Gulf of Mexico in our upstream business, or a refinery in
our downstream business – is required to conduct another gap assessment
and to develop a further prioritized gap closure plan. These actions are risk-
prioritized and form an integral part of each operation’s annual and three-
year planning cycle. Where appropriate, actions are aggregated to provide
common solutions. The results of these annual assessments are subject to
review by S&OR.
Capability development
BP strives to equip its staff with the skills needed to apply the systems
and processes to strengthen further our management of risk and process
safety. We have provided extensive and focused training programmes for
our operations personnel at all levels.
Training provision for operations personnel includes our operations
academy programmes for senior management, delivered in partnership
with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US; specialized
operational and technical management programmes, for example courses
in engineering and project management at the University of Manchester,
UK; and process safety and management training for our front-line
leaders, delivered under our Operations Essentials programme, which
seeks to embed the BP way of operating as represented by our OMS.
To date, approximately 24,000 managers, supervisors and technicians
have attended at least one workshop within the operations essentials
programme since 2008; additionally, more than 180,000 eLearning
modules have been completed.
We communicate our expectations for qualified, competent and
experienced contractor personnel through our procurement process and
contractual provisions.
Safer drilling
Since the beginning of 2011, all BP-operated drilling and wells activity in
the world has been conducted through a single global wells organization
(GWO). By bringing functional wells expertise into a single organization
with common global standards, we are working to standardize BP drilling
and wells operations with the intent of delivering safe and compliant
wells. GWO works with our safety and operational risk function with a
view to reducing risk in drilling and so reduce the likelihood of an oil spill
or incident occurring through prevention efforts. We also aim to reduce
the consequences should an incident occur by focusing on containment,
spill response, relief wells and crisis management. See Exploration and
Production on page 80 for information about the upstream reorganization.
Oil spill prevention
We are implementing enhanced drilling safety standards across the
organization.
Blowout preventers
We have issued standards for the maintenance, testing, verification and use
of subsea blowout preventers (BOPs). For example, we require dynamically
positioned drill rigs contracted by BP to have no fewer than two blind
shear rams and a casing shear ram sitting within the blowout preventer
to enhance its reliability in cutting the drill pipe and sealing the well in the
event of a blowout or other operational emergency. We require third-party
verification that testing and maintenance of our subsea BOPs are performed
in accordance with industry recommended practice. In addition, BP requires
that remotely operated vehicles can activate these BOPs in an emergency.
Cementing
We are enhancing oversight of cementing services by implementing new
standards in cement design and testing. We have also strengthened the
technical approval process for critical cementing operations, and have
brought additional expertise into BP to oversee this. We are implementing
quality audits of our cementing contractors’ laboratories.
Well start-up procedure
We have introduced a new well start-up procedure. The checklist covers
a range of operational areas and verification of conformance is required
by leaders from the business line and S&OR before operations can begin
on certain wells and on new rigs. In one case, as a result of this process,
BP rejected a contractor rig put forward by another operator due to it not
meeting BP’s standards.
These requirements are designed to help identify and mitigate risks
prior to contractors’ drilling rigs being put into service for BP. Interventions
to date have included repairs to safety systems, additional training of
personnel, modifications to equipment, verification of quality and inspection
records, revised and clarified roles and responsibilities, enhanced training
requirements, and enhanced risk management techniques.
See Environment and social responsibility section on pages 69-73
for further information on BP’s approach to oil spill contingency planning
and response.
Bly Report – internal investigation recommendations and actions taken
In the immediate aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP launched
an internal investigation, drawing on the expertise of more than 50
technical and other specialists within BP and the industry. The investigation
team was led by BP’s head of safety and operations, and worked
independently from BP’s other spill response activities and organizations.
The BP investigation (the Bly Report) concluded that no single cause
was responsible for the accident. The investigation instead found that a
complex, inter-linked series of mechanical failures, human judgements,
engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces,
involving several companies including BP, contributed to the accident.
The recommendations
As a result, the investigation team made 26 recommendations specific
to drilling, which we accepted and are working to implement across our
worldwide drilling operations. The recommendations include measures
to improve contractor management, as well as to strengthen design and
assurance on blowout preventers (BOPs), well control, pressure-testing for
well integrity, emergency systems, cement testing, rig audit, verification,
and personnel competence.
Interim measures
Shortly following the publication of the Bly Report, BP developed interim
measures to immediately address the eight key findings contained
within the report. An interim guidance document was issued to each of
our 14 operating regions in December 2010 which contained specific
requirements, including the well start-up check list. This guidance
continues to be in effect across all BP drilling and completions operations.
We continue to progress implementation of the recommendations from
the Deepwater Horizon investigation report and that work will ultimately
replace the interim guidance.
Implementing the recommendations
Implementing the 26 recommendations across the group requires
detailed work and many activities – from creating new practices and
guidance, training and testing appropriate staff, changing requirements and
expectations of our contractors, and establishing verification processes to
assure the changes are sustainably embedded. We have a team of around
85 people working full-time on this.
A project of this scale takes time; we must work to assure that all
actions are delivered to a high standard across all of our well operations,
and independently verified by our S&OR audit or internal audit function.