 Risk is potential of losing something of value.

Values (such as physical health, social status,

emotional well-being or financial wealth) can be
gained or lost when taking risk resulting from a
given action, activity and/or inaction, foreseen or
unforeseen. In petroleum industry risk plays a
vital role in every sphere from surface
exploration to subsurface extraction.
 Major Risks Include:
1. Geological Risk.
2. Political Risk.
3. Supply & Demand Risk.
4. Human Capital Risk.
5. Costs Risk.
 Geological risk refers to both the difficulty of
extraction and the possibility that the
accessible reserves in any deposit will be
smaller than estimated.
 Oil and gas geologists work hard to minimize
geological risk by testing frequently,
 Geologists use the terms "proven,"
"probable" and "possible" before reserve
estimates, to express their level of confidence
in the findings.
 Many industry analysts worry about the lack of
professionals who can work in the industry.
 This can lead to a number of issues in the future,
including a lower-skilled workforce; increasing
risk and cost; larger operational costs and the
industry being unable to react quickly enough to
the market due to a lack of adequate personnel.
 Political risk refers to the risk that an investment's
returns could suffer as a result of political changes
or instability in a country.
 Many regions have environmental or energy laws
that can be complex or difficult to navigate. If any
action is seen as a legal violation, legal costs can
hurt the oil and gas company.
 An important approach that a company takes in
mitigating this risk is careful analysis and building
sustainable relationships with its international oil
and gas partners.
 Supply and demand shocks are a very real risk
for oil and gas companies.
 For example, if a fuel such as natural gas
becomes cheaper, oil-specific industries might
suffer.
 At the same time, extreme demand for a certain
fuel can make the operational and
transportation costs of fuel shoot up.
 The cost of the oil and gas industry remains a
huge risk factor to consider.
 Regulations, political deal-making, human
capital, management, scientific investment,
discovering, drilling, competition from other
industries, and various safety, health, and
environmental risks can make investing in this
industry costly. Because of the incredible global
demand needed for fuel, the rewards from
investing in this industry can be great.
 Volatile oil and gas prices.  Inaccurate reserve estimates

 Inability to expand reserves Competition from alternative

or find replacement energy sources
reserves.

 Operational hazards Inadequate or unavailable

including blowouts, spills and insurance coverage.
personal injury
 Natural disasters and Decrease in demand for oil or
extreme weather conditions natural gas.
 Hazard is defined as a dangerous condition of
event that threatens life. It has the potential to
cause injury to life or damage to property and
environment.
 Hazard can be grouped into two broad categories
A. Natural Hazard
B. Man made hazard
 Natural Hazard
 These hazard are caused because of the natural
phenomena, which could be meteorological, e. g
heavy rains, geological, e. g landslides, or
biological, e. g bacterial infection etc.

 Man made hazard

 These hazard are caused due to negligence or
wrong intentions of human beings. It includes
explosions, leakage of toxic waste, pollution etc.
 Fire

 Oil spill

 Blowout

 Dust
 Fires start when a flammable or a combustible
material, in combination with a sufficient
quantity of an oxidizer such as oxygen gas or
another oxygen-rich compound (though non-
oxygen oxidizers exist), is exposed to a source
of heat or ambient temperature above the flash
point for the fuel / oxidizer mix, and is able to
sustain a rate of rapid oxidation that produces
a chain reaction.
 Oil well fires are oil or gas wells that have caught
on fire and burn. Oil well fires can be the result of
human actions, such as accidents or arson, or natural
events, such as lightning. A frequent cause of a well
fire is a high-pressure blowout during drilling
operations. Oil well fires can cause the loss of
millions of barrels of crude oil per day. Combined
with the ecological problems caused by the large
amounts of smoke and unburned petroleum falling
back to earth.
 An oil spill is the release of
a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the
environment, especially marine areas, due to
human activity, and is a form of pollution. the
term is usually applied to marine oil spills, where
oil is released into the ocean or coastal waters,
but spills may also occur on land.
 oil spills may caused from various type of sources.
some of the major sources include the followings.
 due to releases of crude oil from tankers.
 offshore platforms.
 drilling rigs and wells.
 as well as spills of refined petroleum products (such
as gasoline, diesel) and their by-products,
 heavier fuels used by large ships such as bunker fuel,
or the spill of any oily refuse or waste oil.
 from the oil itself and
 from the response or cleanup operations.
understanding both types of impacts can help spill responders
minimize overall impacts to ecological communities and help them to
recover much more quickly.
The effects of an oil spill will depend on a variety of factors including
 the quantity and type of oil spilled and
 how it interacts with the marine environment.
 Prevailing weather conditions will also influence the oil’s physical
characteristics and its behaviour. Other key factors include the
biological and ecological attributes of the area; the ecological
significance of key species and their sensitivity to oil pollution as
well as the time of year. It is important to remember that the clean-
up techniques selected will also have a bearing on the
environmental effects of a spill.
 The 2014 Sundarbans oil spill was an oil spill that occurred on 9
December 2014 at the Shela River in Sundarban. The spill
occurred when an oil-tanker named Southern Star VII. The spill
occurred when an oil-tanker named Southern Star VII, carrying
350,000 litres (77,000 imp gal; 92,000 US gal) of furnace oil,
was in collision with a cargo vessel. and sank in the river. By
December 17, the oil had spread over a 350 km2 (140 sq mi)
area. The oil spread to a second river and a network of canals in
Sundarbans, which blackened the shoreline. The spill
threatened trees, plankton, and vast populations of small fish
and dolphins.[By 12 January 2015, 70,000 litres
(15,000 imp gal; 18,000 US gal) of oil had been cleaned up by
local residents, the Bangladesh Navy, and the government of
Bangladesh.
 A blowout is simply the blowing up and destruction
of the drilling rig and associated installations due to
sudden, violent and uncontrolled flow of fluids i.e.
water, gas or oil, from underneath the surface.

Blowout can be classified into three broad categories. Such as,

 Surface blowout

 Subsea blowout

 Underground blowout
There has been some cases of gas well blowout in
Bangladesh. Among these, well known are:

 Sylhet-1 gas well blowout,

 Moulvibazar-1 (Magurchara) gas well blowout,

 Chattak-2 (Tengratila) gas well blowout

 The Sylhet-1 well was drilled to a depth of 2377 meters and
then encountered gas. After casing was set, the blowout got
out of control, was ignited and the total rig was destroyed. A
large crater was formed, into which the rig sank.
 The Sylhet-4 well had a similar blowout when drilled to only
314 meters below the surface. The well was abandoned. Gas
broke through to the surface close-by and is still venting
today from fissures in the well site and nearby hillside often
catching fire.
Fig: A large pond created by the blowout at Sylhet-1 well
Clips from Haripur Gas fied
 The well Moulvibazar-1 (also known as Magurchara well) was
targeted to drill to a depth of about 3400 m below the surface and the
drilling was conducted through a loosely consolidated sand layer
named Tipam Sandstone Formation in the shallow subsurface and
then through a consolidated shale layer known as Upper Marine
Shale (UMS) without setting casing in the loose Tipam Sand unit
above the UMS. The well encountered a gas zone at a depth of about
800 meters from the surface. After drilling a depth of 840 meter as
vertical well, drilling stopped by the drillers and they started pulling
out the drill pipes in order to make arrangement for well deviation
from its vertical path, but during the pulling out operation that gas
from the gas zone below, rushed into the drill hole, forcing its way up
which eventually caused the blow out of the well.
Fig: Magurchara blowout
Magurchara blowout
There are about two several blowouts happened in Chattak-2(Tengratila) well. First
happened at 8 January, 2005 and second happened at 17 June, 2005. the reasons are
given below:

 Reasons of blowout (8 January, 2005):

When well was drilled through loosely consolidated sand unit following Upper Marine
Shale without setting casing in the loose sand unit, the drillers began to pull out the drill
string. This causes a swabbing effect on the gas zone and gas forced into the drilling
hole, which caused blow out. The main two reasons for the accident were:

i) Without setting any casing at the loose sand zone (Tipam sand unit),

ii) Pulling out the drill string while the sand above remained uncased and
unprotected, from the gas zone.
 Reasons of blowout (17 June, 2005):

 The reasons of the second blow out are the same as first when the

Canadian company Niko tried to drill a relief well to kill the main

Chattak-2 with mud and sealed it off with cement. It was hoped to

finish drilling up to 466 meters but at 435 meters , an explosion

took place. A sudden uncontrolled mud was lost in the relief well,

causing a very high flow rate of gas coming up through the well to

the surface and created blowout. Then the rig was caught by fire.
Fig: Tengratila blowout
clips from tengratila
 http://www.investopedia.com/articles/fundamental-
analysis/12/5-biggest-risks-faced-by-gas-and-oil-
companies.asp
 FIRE AND EXPLOSION HAZARD MANAGEMENT
AN INDUSTRY RECOMMENDED PRACTICE (IRP) FOR THE
CANADIAN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY. IRP VOLUME 18 –
2006.
 http://www.energydigital.com/utilities/2259/Top-20-
Risk-Factors-Facing-the-Oil-Gas-Industry
 http://www.ijstr.org/final-print/sep2014/A-Review-
Over-Major-Gas-Blowouts-In-Bangladesh-Their-Effects-
And-The-Measures-To-Prevent-Them-In-Future.pdf