Process Safety in the Midstream Sector Under the Shale and Tight Oil and Gas Boom

Keywords: Midstream, accidents, fire, loss of containment, Process Safety Management.

Abstract

During the last decade, the “shale revolution” has stimulated production of oil and natural gas in the United States. Technical advances, combined with high oil and gas prices have enabled increased production of the abundant oil and natural gas resources in the United States.

The extraordinary growth of this segment of the oil and gas industry has resulted in challenging conditions for safe construction and operation of green-field facilities.

We examine the contributing factors on a set of incidents and accidents related to construction and operation of facilities associated with the U.S. shale boom. Specifically, we look at factors common to accidents on new natural gas processing plants and associated pipelines.