Diablo Oil & gas NZ operates nine tanks in Taranaki, across two tank farms - Omata Tank Farm and Paritutu Tank Farm. These tanks hold condensate (light oil) and some crude oil which is piped and trucked in from Diablo Oil & Gas NZ’s natural gas fields and other businesses around Taranaki.
Safety is the heart of our business and protecting what we care for is our number one priority – this means no harm to people or the environment.
Under New Zealand health and safety legislation, the tank farm facilities are recognised as Major Hazard Facilities due to the quantities of hydrocarbon products that we safely store. These regulations are administered and monitored by WorkSafe.
Major incidents are considered as 'low likelihood, high consequence' events and we have safety cases in place for both Omata and Paritutu tank farms.
It is a legal requirement under the Health and Safety at Work (Major Hazard Facilities) Regulations 2016 to have a safety case for all Major Hazard Facilities.
o Know what the major incidents are on our facilities and the consequences associated with them
o Have robust controls in place to prevent or mitigate the effects of a major incident
o Have emergency response plans in place, supported by suitable resources e.g. trained people and equipment
o A description of our operations and what we do, including the materials we handle
o A summary of our Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Management System
o A section that outlines our major incidents (what can go wrong) and an evaluation of the consequences arising from these
o A summary of the controls in place to manage major incident risks
o An overview of our emergency response processes
o A statement of commitment from our most senior officer that health and safety risks at our facilities have been managed, so far as is reasonably practicable
Our Tank Farm safety cases are updated every five years or if we have a significant change in operations or risk profile.
• A detailed and systematic process has been applied to identify all potential Major Incident Hazards and Major Incidents
• A detailed and systematic assessment has been undertaken of the likelihood and consequences of each major incident, including suitable physical effects modelling to understand the impacts onsite and offsite
• For each major incident hazard, effective barriers and controls are in place to prevent the event occurring and to minimise the consequences should it do so
• Risk reduction measures have been assessed and all reasonably practical measures implemented or a plan is in place to ensure they are put in place
The safety assessment process is a team approach, with input from operations, maintenance, engineering, and HSSE personnel, as well as key contractors.
A Major Hazard Facility (MHF) means a facility that WorkSafe has designated as a lower tier major hazard facility or an upper tier major hazard facility under the Health and Safety at Work (Major Hazard Facilities) Regulations 2016.
Under these regulations, a MHF needs to identify and evaluate the potential major incidents at the facility and put in place suitable controls to manage these.
• An uncontrolled event at a major hazard facility
• Loss of containment, fire, explosion etc
• Involves a specified hazardous substance, for Diablo Oil & Gas these are condensate, crude oil, naphtha, natural gas
• Exposes multiple people to a serious health and safety risk (including death) through exposure to the hazardous substance
• Loss of containment of condensate / crude / naphtha arising in fire / explosion:
1. Incoming and export pipelines
2. Service areas / pump-raft areas
3. Storage tanks
• Road tanker unloading facilities (EIL Tank Farm only)
• Domestic gas supply release from hot water heater fuel supply (EIL Tank Farm only)
• Storage tank fire
• Escalation from event / activity outside of tank farms e.g. other MHF operator emergency
Diablo Oil & Gas controls major incidents through three types of controls:
• Competent workers who are fit to work
• Good process safety culture in the organisation
• Suitably designed and constructed plant
• Plant maintained to a good condition
• Safety Critical Elements (SCEs) and assurance tasks. SCEs are items or equipment at a major hazard facility that are intended to be the last lines of defense against a major incident and its consequences. SCEs include:
1. Prevention Measures
• Primary containment e.g. tanks, piping
• Pressure relief systems
• Overfill protection systems
• Ignition control measures
• Emergency shutdown systems
2. Mitigation Measures
• CCTV
• Secondary containment
• Fire and gas detection systems
• Fire protection systems
• Well defined management systems that are communicated to our workers
The DIABLO OIL & GAS Health, Safety, Security, and Environment (HSSE) Management System is made up of 12 Elements, which follow a ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ process as shown below:
The management system is designed to ensure:
o Leadership commitment and visibility is demonstrated across all of our operations
o The workforce we have in place is competent, motivated and empowered to perform, as well as being physically and mentally fit for work
o Hazards and risks are identified for all our activities and suitable controls in place, which are continually monitored to ensure they remain effective
o Projects and engineering design is performed in accordance with recognised good practice and by competent workers
o Work is controlled and risk assessed through a formal Permit to Work system
o Contracted services are aligned with our HSSE expectations
o All incidents and near-misses are investigated and that lessons learned are shared across our business
o Stakeholders are identified and kept informed
o Emergency response processes are in place and sufficiently resourced, as well as tested regularly to ensure they work.
o HSSE performance is monitored and improvement opportunities identified
Diablo Oil & gas works closely with emergency services in the preparation and testing of emergency response plans to ensure response actions can be implemented efficiently and effectively in an emergency.
In the unlikely event of an emergency at one of our facilities, emergency services will assist with emergency response on site, as well as any evacuation of the facilities and neighbours, if required.