Shell Shares Expertise at Leading Health and Safety Conference

Doha, 18 September 2014:  Qatar Shell showcased its award-winning health and safety initiatives at the Society of Petroleum Engineers 7th Middle East Health Safety, Environment and Sustainable Development Conference and Exhibition (MEHSE) in Doha, held under the patronage of H.E. Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman of QatarEnergy.

The high-profile conference was held in order to bring together leading industry specialists who are able to share key international experiences and to discuss a sustainable framework and local solutions for the Middle East oil and gas industry. During the conference, senior representatives from Qatar Shell shared effective methods to achieve global best practice standards in the field of health and safety, including showcasing the company’s recognized best-practice strategies.

Wael Sawan, Managing Director and Chairman of Qatar Shell Companies, stressed the organisation’s long-term commitment to Health, Safety, and the Environment (HSE) and emphasized that keeping people safe starts with the implementation of safe, efficient and responsible operations. Mr. Sawan stated, “We are very pleased to be part of an event that brings the industry together to share experiences on common challenges.   By participating in constructive dialogue and sharing our local and international experiences, we hope that we can contribute to improved practices and technologies in order to ensure the highest possible HSE standards across the oil and gas industry.”

Safety will always remain a crucial focus area in the oil and gas industry, and the title of this year’s conference, “Protecting People, Environment, Asset, and Reputation – Are We Prepared?” reflects this concern. The topics discussed among conference participants covered various HSE issues, including environmental protection, health hazard management, behaviour-based safety, land transportation safety, workers welfare, and security issues.

As part of the conference, Qatar Shell sponsored and supported a university program competition with students from Qatar University and Texas A&M University solving a case study challenge focused on the “The role of individuals role in establishing a healthy workplace environment”. The teams presented in front of a judging panel with the winning team from Qatar University being recognized in a prize-giving by the President of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Mr. Jeff Spath.

As joint venture partners, Shell and QatarEnergy built the largest engineering project to date in Ras Laffan Industrial City in northern Qatar. It took 500 million man-hours to build Pearl GTL, and at the peak of construction, the project involved more than 52,000 workers from over 50 nations. Despite the exceptionally large number of workers involved and the complexity of Pearl GTL’s construction, a strong safety culture helped Qatar Shell break industry records. In 2010 the project achieved 77 million hours worked without any lost time injury (LTI) and an overall LTI frequency of 0.04 LTI/million man-hours corresponding to about 1/10th of the industry average.