Commissioner Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, discussed the crucial nature of her role and announced 2014 as the ‘Year of the Mediterranean’.
Florence, Italy – International Research Networks, the global organiser of high-level Summits, based in London, recently held the well-received HSE Med 2014 Summit at the Starhotels Michelangelo in Florence, Italy on 21st-22nd January.
Commissioner Maria Damanaki, from the European Commission for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, gave the opening speech at the Summit that gathered key Governmental Officials, such as the Minister Nicos Kouyialis, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment in Cyprus, Tahar Cherif Zerarka, President of the Algerian Hydrocarbon Regulatory Authority, senior executives, energy experts, consultants and senior HSE representatives from many IOCs and service companies looking to understand HSE challenges in the Mediterranean to discuss effective solutions.
The Chairwoman of the Summit, Toula Onoufriou, Professor of Infrastructure Reliability, Cyprus University of Technology and Advisor to the President of Cyprus, presented on the development of safety and environmental protection regime in the East Mediterranean, analysing the challenges that the emerging oil and gas industry will face in the area, highlighting the opportunities and need for regional collaboration.
Tahar Cherif Zerarka, President of the Algerian Hydrocarbon Regulatory Authority gave a retrospective view of major accidents to learn lessons from the past, and provided attendees with a detailed analysis of the Algerian regulatory framework evolution related to risk management within the hydrocarbon activities, addressing the development and evaluation of the risk profile and implementation of concrete measures in order to mitigate the risks related to human safety, asset integrity and environmental protection.
The NEREIDs Project was presented for the first time at the HSE Med 2014 Summit by Dr. Tiago Alves and Eleni Kokinou, both Members of the Steering and Management Committees for the European Union’s NEREIDs Project.
Furthermore, on the second day of the Summit, Abdullnasser Ganidi, Management Committee HSEQ Advisor from the Libyan National Oil Corporation, Mellitah Oil & Gas shared his expertise and spoke about how to minimize operational risks by implementing health, safety, environment, verification and certification of quality – security standards, ensuring that asset integrity is managed and implemented. From his experience, he also outlined the necessity for strong workforce participation and collaborative efforts in order to achieve a successful corporate HSEQ-S culture.
Following his presentation, Jean-Philippe Berillon, Senior Vice President for Security & Safety at the internationally leading company, GDF Suez, addressed emergency management issues and the criticality of effective interaction of multiple stakeholders in order to efficiently emerge from a critical situation and respond quickly.
Assem Abou Ibrahim and Walid Nasr, Head of QHSE Department and Head of Strategic Planning Department respectively at the Petroleum Administration of Lebanon, discussed the latest Exploration and Production activities in Offshore Lebanon in order to assess developments and HSE perspectives. The Lebanese senior level officials presented the HSE governance, regulations and requirements for the oil and gas sector in the country, analysing future HSE plans and programs.
The Summit offered a high level platform with Ministerial and Governmental Support, and an excellent experience for the delegation with dinners and successful networking sessions. Participants at the Summit included companies like GDF Suez; the Petroleum Administration of Lebanon; Edison; Shell, NOC Libya, Mellitah Oil & Gas; Suncor Energy, Libya; Sonatrach; Computime; Serept; Elard; Sodeps; Environ Italy and Aersud Elicotteri.
The HSE Med 2014 Summit was sponsored by the medical evacuation services provider Medilink International, the consulting company HSE Risk Solutions, and the risk engineering consultancy firm APSYS. Furthermore, the Summit was supported by the World Energy Council, the Italian Unione Petrolifera, the French Pole Mer Bretagne, the Spanish Association of Investigation, Exploration and Production of Hydrocarbons and Underground Storage-ACIEP and the Norwegian Oil Spill Control Association- NOSCA.
For documentation of the Summit please get in contact with the organising company IRN: info@irn-international.com or +44 (0) 207 111 1615.
