Shell in the Middle East | Features

Jean-Louis Teurlai works for Shell International Exploration & Production and is the Lead Auditor heading up Shell Libya’s HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) Audit of the seismic survey operations of BGP in the Sirte Basin. He is being assisted by Mark Peach, from Shell Libya, Nasser Al Touqi, Operations Geophysicist from PDO (Petroleum Development Oman), and Yan Dongliang, Operations Manager for BGP.

Jean-Louis says, “As part of Shell Libya’s quality control and HSE management of the seismic survey operations being carried out by BGP’s crew 8624 in the Sirte Basin, my team has been commissioned to carry out an HSE Audit to ensure that operations are conducted in a safe manner according to Shell’s international standards and guidelines. On completion of our audit we will submit a report to both Shell Libya and BGP.

“We will be examining high risk areas such as mine clearance, land transport and the health of the people living in the camp, especially with regard to catering and hygiene.

“With regard to mine clearance, we have looked at the field operations and have examined the way in which the mine clearance contractor is conducting operations, including measures to protect its own staff as well as the clearance of the work area to ensure the safety of the seismic survey team. We are also examining the relevance of the mine clearing operations against the risk of having a mine detonation incident.”

He goes on to say, “Land transport is a difficult issue, not just here in Libya but all over the world. Shell has developed methods to deal with its associated risks and we are examining how Shell Libya and BGP have implemented some of these methods into their land transport management system.

“We have also studied BGP’s emergency response capabilities to incidents which may occur in remote locations and today we conducted an unannounced Medevac [Medical Evacuation] drill. This enabled us to verify that there were the resources and organisational capabilities to deal with casualties in remote areas. I am pleased to report that the exercise went well.

“As for health issues, we focus on the camp’s medical facilities and hygiene standards in the catering establishment. Both food handling and waste disposal are of a good standard. The evidence to support this is demonstrated by the very few numbers of incidents of gastric problems which have been recorded.

“Last but not least, we have reviewed BGP’s overall HSE Management System to make sure that all the necessary HSE issues are being properly addressed. Shell sets very high standards of HSE for itself and for its contractors, and our job is to make sure that these standards are being maintained.

“I am pleased to say that here at BGP camp 8624 everyone has worked very hard to achieve Shell’s standards and the results are quite visible. Of course we have found a few deficiencies, as every audit reveals, but these will be rectified in due course and will lead to further improvements,” he concludes.