We depend on being able to use a large number of chemical products in drilling and well management and in further processing of oil and gas. Such substances are also used in the maintenance and operation of many facilities, large and small.
Our goal is to minimise the use of such chemicals and to choose those products which present the lowest possible risk of illness or damage.
When the use of chemicals which may be intrinsically hazardous is unavoidable, measures will be taken to ensure the lowest possible level of risk - which must also be acceptable.
A chemical centre has been established as a tool for reaching this goal. All chemicals must be registered and documented there before purchase, and their properties assessed and ranked.
In cooperation with other companies in the oil industry, we have developed tools to provide practical help when evaluating risk. These also characterise the existing condition through measurements, modelling or comparing assessments.
The chemical centre can halt the procurement and use of hazardous substances, partly by imposing a computerised block on purchasing. Other products or solutions must then be assessed, or measures taken and an acceptable level of risk documented and approved by specialist personnel and management before a purchase can be made.
The chemical centre is responsible for proposing and maintaining criteria which we need to take into account and apply when ranking the properties of chemical products. That also involves monitoring research results as well as government requirements and regulations in a number of countries.
The centre serves in addition as our point of contact with the chemical and supplies industry to push for the development of products with the best possible HSE characteristics.
Another job for the centre is to ensure that the properties of each chemical are documented, not least in the form of HSE data sheets. The latter contain information about the product which its supplier or manufacturer is legally required to provide.
Together with other oil industry players, we collect such sheets in a joint database. Their quality is checked against regulatory requirements by an external partner.
Each data sheet is also included in an index file which specifies place of use and user. These files are preserved for a long time after usage has ceased.
The chemical centre supports our organisation in assessing the health risk posed by working with chemicals.
