Resuming Ordinary Operations at In Amenas

19 months after the In Amenas attack, Statoil (STO) and the joint venture partners are ready to resume ordinary operations at the plant.

In June, the corporate executive committee approved the return of temporary manning to the plant to finalise the implementation of the outstanding security requirements.

The goal was to verify the implementation of the last security measures and to prepare for a resumption of ordinary operation at In Amenas. During the autumn of 2013 and early in 2014 it was decided to resume ordinary operations at the other locations in Algeria.

“The decision to resume ordinary operations also at In Amenas is the result of a thorough and stepwise process of identifying necessary security measures, implementing them and validating that they are in place and operational,” says Lars Christian Bacher, executive vice president for Development & Production International (DPI).

Since the In Amenas attack, Statoil has worked systematically with its partners in Algeria with the aim of resuming ordinary operations in Algeria. The security improvements at In Amenas are also based on recommendations of the investigation conducted after the attack.

In parallel with this work, the company has carried out a continuous and comprehensive improvement effort to enhance the general security work in Statoil. The goal of this programme is to achieve considerable improvements both with regard to awareness, organization, systems and use of resources.

Through the security improvement effort at the Algeria plants the joint venture has introduced physical security measures at all operating plants.

The security work, both in Statoil and in the joint venture, has furthermore been reorganized, and the dialogue with Algerian authorities on securing of the plants has been improved. Algerian authorities have also initiated and introduced security measures beyond those implemented by the joint venture.

“We will now, in cooperation with our partners, continue our systematic work to maintain the high level of the security
measures, to ensure that we have a good understanding of the security threats and adjust our security measures as required,” continues Bacher.