The different issues that are faced by the workers while operating in the downstream sector in oil and gas production has affected the health and safety of the same. On the other hand, the utilization of different technologies has helped in enhancing the operations of the oil and gas departments in order to enhance the operations of the same while operating in diverse international markets (Anuar and Abdullah 2016) . The different health and safety issues that are undertaken by the downstream sector is threatening the lives of the people and the environment. The key elements of change that are undertaken by the organization are based on the identification of the issues that are faced by the people while operating in diverse international markets. The resolution of the issues helps the organizations in undertaking a sustainable approach as [per the needs of the same while operating in diverse international markets.
The research will be based on the identification of the different issues that are faced by the downstream sector in the oil and gas manufacturing organization in Netherlands. The different health and safety standards that are followed by the organizations while operating in diverse international markets will be facilitated through the research (Small et al. 2014). On the other hand, the key changes in the operations that might be undertaken by the organization is based on the identification of the health and safety concerns of the employees. The issues that are faced by the employees while operating in the downstream sector is based on the different gases that emerges out of the refining process that are undertaken by the oil and gas manufacturing units in Netherlands. Werner et al. (2015) stated that benzene, butane, and methane emerges out of the processes that are undertaken by the oil and gas manufacturing units. It affects the livelihood of the people working in the discrete situations. On the other hand, the harmful gases also affect the environmental eco- systems through loss of habitat and pollution. The research will be focusing on developing different refining and harmful gas collection procedures in order to support the health and safety needs of the communities and the environment (Shuen, Feiler and Teece 2014).
Research Aim
The aim of undertaking the research is to improve the health and safety standards in downstream sector of oil and gas.
The research objectives that will be considered while undertaking the study are:
The research will be helping the future researchers in understanding the different activities of the downstream sectors that are threatening the security and health of the employees and the communities. It will be helping the future researchers in recommending different models in order to bring forth improvements in the health and safety concerns that are faced by the oil and gas manufacturing organizations in Netherlands. The research will be focusing on enumerating the different changes that might be undertaken by the organization in the oil and gas industry in order to maintain the efficacy of the health and safety standards and thereby maximize the productivity. The rationale for undertaking the research is to identify the different issues that are faced by the communities, environment and the employees due to the activities that are undertaken by downstream sectors in the oil and gas- manufacturing units.
The scope of the research is based on the identification of the different issues that might be faced by the oil; and gas manufacturing organizations relating to the health and safety of the communities. On the other hand, the research will also help in understanding the different activities that might be undertaken by the future researchers in devising different alternative practices in order to ensure the safety and health related aspects of the employees and communities. The research that will be limited by the lack of suitable knowledge on devising recommended activities in order to ensure the health and safety standards that might be undertaken by the organization while undertaking the research.
The oil and gas industry have a huge impact on the contemporary world (Urry 2015). It lays a direct impact on every commodity in the market. However, it is also a fact that modern society would fail to run smoothly in absence of this industry as the products manufactured and created by this industry are of great use in each and every aspect of life. According to Nguyen et al. (2016), the demand of gas and oil has exceeded their production. It clearly demonstrated the reason behind why the nations with significant deposits of crude oil are considered to be the richest of all. The modern society depends highly on the production of crude oil and therefore, it has become of utmost importance to employ high technology and high quality technological processes for ensuring the effectiveness of the process. The downstream sector of the oil and gas industry involves the process of refining the raw natural gases and the crude oil that are obtained from the upstream sector (Shuen, Feiler and Teece 2014). With the same, it also involves selling and distributing of the products that are obtained. There are large range of products that are obtained by refining the crude oil and they include- liquefied petroleum gas, fertilizers, diesel, gasoline, synthetic rubber, petroleum coke, asphalt, antifreeze, pesticides etc. It is completely related with the customers. The facilities who are involved in this sector are the oil refineries, petrochemical plants, retail outlets, natural gas distribution companies etc.
Challenges in Downstream
The downstream sector of the Oil and Gas industry has a broad tentacles and scope. They comprise of trading, marketing, refining, retailing, distribution of products, supplying crude etc. There are many products that are involved in this sector and so are the challenges. According to Noble (2017), the operating capacity of the international refining industries has been continuously constrained and due to this reason, there is a necessity of expansion in their different phases. The crude oil that is produced in recent years is becoming sourer and heavier. With the same, the specifications of the products are tightened by means of increasing a very strict environmental legislation. This in turn has resulted in the high need for implementing changes in the configuration of refining for most of the oil players. Moreover, it is also to mention that the margins of marketing are rapidly getting lower because of competition from the advantaged entrants.
Environment, safety and health security
According to Schwarzenbach and Gschwend (2016), safety of human environment and the protection of health need to be the first priority for the oil and gas industry. The legislation such as the implementation of the ISO125926 has compelled the companies under this sector to follow it. With the same, the hydraulic fracturing, one of the common processes in the extraction of the gas from the unconventional reservoirs have led to many environmental issues or concerns with the water table. Hence, in this context it is suggested that these companies should pay much attentions on the safety and health issue with broader operation issues by different stages of value chains.
As per Kim et al. (2017), the set of the conceptual descriptions in the gas and oil industry is ISO15926 (“Industrial automation devices and combination– Integration of life-cycle information for procedure plants consisting of oil and gas production facilities”). There are many research papers at the workshop of “W3C Oil & Gas” that have proposed some sort of combination in between the W3C languages and ISO 15926. At present, ISO 15926 comprise of a total of seven parts. However, the published ones are part one, two and four. The first component comprise of “introduction”. In part 2, there is the “data model”, which is related to the 4D model. It is used for defining the basic ideas such as the “property”, “thing” and “specific”, the particular connections and principles that are used to carrying out the space and for describing after adjusting the physical parameters and some other common connections that are suitable for the engineering tasks such as configuration, link, participation and containment.
Moreover, according to Cameron, Waaler and Komulainen (2018), the requisite technologies could be used for monitoring and recognizing the alarms of gas leakage in the gas processing pants and hence, they trigger different processes for activating the gas turbine. With the same, the NKRL (Narrative Knowledge Representation Language) could be used for revealing such detail as well as to set up the data base. However, it is to mention that the NKRL refers to a conceptual meta-model that is created for dealing with the complicated narrative information sources in an intelligent way. Zarri (2015) have also claimed that the NKRL can be used for expressing the information and for setting up of the knowledge base.
Netherlands downstream oil and gas industry
Netherlands is considered to be one of the large net exporter of the oil and gas products. It has one of the largest downstream hubs in the European country, named as Rotterdam harbor. With the same, as per Perry (2012), Netherlands is also considered to be the global leader in the gas and oil exporting services. According to Rico et al. (2012), the gas sector of Netherlands aids near about 9% of the total revenues of the Netherlands’ central government. The gas industry of Netherland invests about 1.5 billion Euro every year in pipelines and the other gas related infrastructures and at the same time, it also has an operating expenditures of about 5 billion euros (Rico et al. 2012). This sector aids a total of 16.7 billion euros every year. The downstream oil and gas services of Netherlands comprise of the Cargo custody transfer; the laboratory testing such as quality control, troubleshooting, ASTM, laboratory outsourcing; the metering and measurement like tank calibration, LACT unit services etc. and distribution and retailing. However, it is to note that the downstream sector of oil and gas industry of Netherland is facing several challenges in the recent years. They include the change of characteristics of the feedstock for the processing, the aging of the facilities of the process and equipment, the rise in the cost of energy, the shortage of skilled operators for plants who are efficient enough to run the refinery safely. As per the report of Chandra (2016), Yokogawa of Netherlands has collaborated with several downstream firms for providing industrial solutions that are focused on solving the issues and challenges. In such an ever changing marketplace of Netherlands, the refineries are considered to be both the crude processing units and profit centers. With the same, Kivel (2017) have claimed that there is a significant awareness from the parts of the people about the need for safety. A production solution, which encompasses control, planning, management and scheduling is very much necessary for achieving a long lasting goals for the efficiency, profitability and the protection of environment.
The methodology that will be followed during the study is mixed methods, which will be helping to utilize the quantitative and qualitative assessment of the different health and security issues that are faced by the employees and the communities. The quantitative questionnaire will be helping to identify the issues through collection of mass responses from the respondents (Mackenzie et al. 2012). On the other hand, the qualitative interview with the different respondents will be helping to support the research through broader specification of the issues that are faced by the oil and gas industry.
The research philosophy helps in identifying the essence of the research study through the utilization of effective research paradigm. Research philosophy can be divided into four different types, which mainly constitutes of positivism, interpretivism, realism and pragmatism (Miller et al. 2012). The concerned research will be utilizing Positivism philosophy in order to identify the existence of reality through utilization of scientifically proven techniques
The current study aims to identify the impact of activities that are undertaken by the oil and gas units in Netherlands on the health and safety of the employees and the environment. Therefore, in the present case, the research will make an attempt to analyze the different activities through scientifically proven paradigms.
Research approach will be helping to conduct the study in order to guide the same to a desired outcome. The Research approach is basically of two types, namely, inductive approach and deductive approach. The current research will be utilizing the deductive approach as it focuses on scrutinizing the available models and theories as per the needs of the study.
The current research focuses on evaluating the impact of oil and gas manufacturing activities on the health and safety of the employees and the environment in Netherlands. The deductive approach will be helping to evaluate the different issues through an assessment of different models and theories.
The research strategy that will be undertaken in the study is survey, which will be helping to support the objectives of the same. The survey will be helping to enumerate different changes in the study in order to facilitate unbiased outcome of the research.
The time horizon for the research will be cross sectional study, as it will be helping to compare different populations. On the other hand, the cross sectional study will be helping the research in unde3rtaking an unbiased study through limited manipulation of the environment on which the study will be undertaken. It will be helping enhancing the research outcomes as per the needs of undertaking the study.
Data will be collected through online questionnaires and face to face interview with the respondents. It will be helping to enrich the study through supportive feedbacks from the respondents.
The research will be utilizing different statistical tools that include correlation and regression, which will be helping the researcher in undertaking an analysis of objectives (BNS and HV 2013). Moreover, the research will also utilize SPSS for evaluating whether the responses are statistically significant. The utilization of the different statistical tools will be helping in guiding the research towards the desired outcome.
Timeline regarding ten weeks
|
Task |
Week 1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4 |
Week 5 |
Week 6 |
Week 7 |
Week 8 |
Week 9 |
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Selection of topic and search for justification |
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Constructing literature |
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Selecting appropriate methods |
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Data collection |
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Data analysis and representation |
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Reviewing the outcomes |
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Conclusions and recommendations |
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Submitting draft of the project |
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Printing and final submission |
Table 1: Table showing the timeframe of the entire research
(Source: As created by author)
Research limitations
The research is limited by financial constraints as the study will be requiring huge funds for creating the questionnaire and undertaking the survey (Lewis 2015). On the other hand, the research is also limited by time, as it will require huge amount of time to undertake the survey and thereby assess the different response that is gathered during the surveys.
Ethical aspects
The ethical aspects that might be considered during the research is based on the authenticity and unbiased of the responses that are gathered by the researcher. The unbiased responses will be helping to guide the study to the identification of the different issues that are faced by the employees and communities due to the activities that are undertaken by the oil and gas industry in Netherlands.
References
Anuar, M.R. and Abdullah, A.Z., 2016. Challenges in biodiesel industry with regards to feedstock, environmental, social and sustainability issues: a critical review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 58, pp.208-223.
BNS, R. and HV, R., 2013. An overview of interpretive phenomenology as a research methodology. Nurse Researcher (through 2013), 20(6), p.17.
Cameron, D.B., Waaler, A. and Komulainen, T.M., 2018, November. Oil and Gas digital twins after twenty years. How can they be made sustainable, maintainable and useful?. In Proceedings of The 59th Conference on Simulation and Modelling (SIMS 59), 26-28 September 2018, Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway (No. 153, pp. 9-16). Linköping University Electronic Press.
Chandra, P., 2016. Technological Innovation: Some Models. Rethinking Innovation: Global Perspectives, p.145.
Kim, B.C., Jeon, Y., Park, S., Teijgeler, H., Leal, D. and Mun, D., 2017. Toward standardized exchange of plant 3D CAD models using ISO 15926. Computer-Aided Design, 83, pp.80-95.
Kivel, P., 2017. Uprooting Racism-: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. New Society Publishers.
Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.
Mackenzie, J., Tan, P.L., Hoverman, S. and Baldwin, C., 2012. The value and limitations of participatory action research methodology. Journal of hydrology, 474, pp.11-21.
Miller, T., Birch, M., Mauthner, M. and Jessop, J. eds., 2012. Ethics in qualitative research. Sage.
Nguyen, T.V., Voldsund, M., Breuhaus, P. and Elmegaard, B., 2016. Energy efficiency measures for offshore oil and gas platforms. Energy, 117, pp.325-340.
Noble, D., 2017. Forces of production: A social history of industrial automation. Routledge.
Perry, S.L., 2012. Environmental reviews and case studies: Addressing the societal costs of unconventional oil and gas exploration and production: A framework for evaluating short-term, future, and cumulative risks and uncertainties of hydrofracking. Environmental Practice, 14(4), pp.352-365.
Rico, A., Satapornvanit, K., Haque, M.M., Min, J., Nguyen, P.T., Telfer, T.C. and Van Den Brink, P.J., 2012. Use of chemicals and biological products in Asian aquaculture and their potential environmental risks: a critical review. Reviews in Aquaculture, 4(2), pp.75-93.
Schwarzenbach, R.P. and Gschwend, P.M., 2016. Environmental organic chemistry. John Wiley & Sons.
Shuen, A., Feiler, P.F. and Teece, D.J., 2014. Dynamic capabilities in the upstream oil and gas sector: Managing next generation competition. Energy Strategy Reviews, 3, pp.5-13.
Shuen, A., Feiler, P.F. and Teece, D.J., 2014. Dynamic capabilities in the upstream oil and gas sector: Managing next generation competition. Energy Strategy Reviews, 3, pp.5-13.
Small, M.J., Stern, P.C., Bomberg, E., Christopherson, S.M., Goldstein, B.D., Israel, A.L., Jackson, R.B., Krupnick, A., Mauter, M.S., Nash, J. and North, D.W., 2014. Risks and risk governance in unconventional shale gas development.
Urry, J., 2015. Climate change and society. In Why the social sciences matter (pp. 45-59). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Werner, A.K., Vink, S., Watt, K. and Jagals, P., 2015. Environmental health impacts of unconventional natural gas development: a review of the current strength of evidence. Science of the Total Environment, 505, pp.1127-1141.
Zarri, G.P., 2015, April. Semantic/Conceptual Annotation Techniques Making Use of the Narrative Knowledge Representation Language (NKRL). In FLAIRS Conference(pp. 131-1
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