2010-09-28 10:51

BEIJING - The oil and gas industry needs to establish technology standards to prevent the occurrences of accidents such as the explosion of an oil pipeline in Dalian in July and the oil spill in Mexico Bay, industrial analysts said.

"Compared with its rapid industrial development, China lags in safety culture at workplace and the implementation of safety measures," said Zhang Hong, professor at the department of mechanical and electronic engineering under the China University of Petroleum-Beijing. He delivered his remarks at the third World Conference on Safety of Oil & Gas Industry (WCOGI 2010) in Beijing.

"The poor awareness has led to a high rate of accidents," he said. "We need to establish technology standards that can be shared by various companies."

On July 16, an oil pipeline in Dalian exploded due to an error in operation. A firefighter was killed in the rescue effort. Official figures said 3,000 tons of oil was spilled, but a report by China Business Journal estimated that the spill could be between 50,000 and 100,000 tons.

The biggest problem facing the industry is a lack of data collection, analysis and investigation in the oil and gas industry, said M. Sam Mannan, professor with Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center, Engineering Department of the Texas A&M University.

"People tend to ignore accidents with less consequence," he said. "But the root cause is the same. We should collect data, figure out the problem and proceed in a safe way."

Du Weidong, senior engineer with the Research Institute of Safety & Environment Technology of China National Petroleum Corporation, said Chinese corporations in the oil and gas sector are also developing and selecting technologies such as the water-based oil spill treatment as measures to prevent pollution once an accident occurred.

The industry is now working on a system of health, safety and environment to standardize the operation in response to unfortunate incidents, he said.

Linda Zhang, general manager of Sino-Gas & Oil Technology Co Ltd, said the company entered the fourth stage of a technology review by BP for its funnel-shaped oil control device in the treatment about the Mexico Bay oil spill.

In addition, she said that it is irresponsible to use dispersing agent to clear up polluted sea water after the oil spill.