Petroleum operations have been high-risk ventures since their inception, and several instances of notable damage to life and property have resulted from oil spills and other petroleum-related accidents as well as acts of sabotage. One of the earliest known incidents was the 1907 Echo Lake fire in downtown Los Angeles, which started when a ruptured oil tank caught fire. Other incidents include the 1978 Amoco Cadiz tanker spill off the coast of Brittany, the opening and ignition of oil wells in 1991 in Iraq and Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War, the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off the Alaskan coast, and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Accidents occur throughout the petroleum production value chain both onshore and offshore. The main causes of these accidents are poor communications, improperly trained workers, failure to enforce safety policies, improper equipment, and rule-based (rather than risk-based) management. These conditions set the stage for oil blowouts (sudden escapes from a well), equipment failures, personal injuries, and deaths of people and wildlife. Preventing accidents requires appreciation and understanding of the risks during each part of petroleum operations.

Human behaviours are the focus for regulatory and legislative health and safety measures. Worker training is designed to cover individual welfare as well as the requirements for processes involving interaction with others—such as lifting and the management of pressure and explosives and other hazardous materials. Licensing is a requirement for many engineers, field equipment operators, and various service providers. For example, offshore crane operators must acquire regulated training and hands-on experience before qualification is granted. However, there are no global standards followed by all countries, states, or provinces. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the operator to seek out and thoroughly understand the local regulations prior to starting operations. The perception that compliance with company standards set within the home country will enable the company to meet all international requirements is incorrect. To facilitate full compliance, employing local staff with detailed knowledge of the local regulations and how they are applied gives confidence to both the visiting company and the enforcing authorities that the operating plans are well prepared.

State-of-the-art operations utilize digital management to remove people from the hazards of surface production processes. This approach, commonly termed “digital oil field (DOF),” essentially allows remote operations by using automated surveillance and control. From a central control room, DOF engineers and operators monitor, evaluate, and respond in advance of issues. This work includes remotely testing or adjusting wells and stopping or starting wells, component valves, fluid separators, pumps, and compressors. Accountability is delegated from the field manager to the process owner, who is typically a leader of a team that is responsible for a specific process, such as drilling, water handling, or well completions. Adopting DOF practices reduces the chances of accidents occurring either on-site or in transit from a well.

Safety during production operations is considered from the bottom of the producing well to the pipeline surface transfer point. Below the surface, wells are controlled by blowout preventers, which the control room or personnel at the well site can use to shut down production when abnormal pressures indicate well integrity or producing zone issues. Remote surveillance using continuous fibre, bottom hole temperature and pressures, and/or microseismic indicators gives operators early warning signs so that, in most situations, they can take corrective action prior to actuating the blowout preventers. In the case of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the combination of faulty cement installation, mistakes made by managers and crew, and damage to a section of drill pipe that prevented the safety equipment from operating effectively resulted in a blowout that released more than 130 million gallons (about 4.1 million barrels) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Transporting petroleum from the wellhead to the transfer point involves safe handling of the product and monitoring at surface facilities and in the pipeline. Production facilities separate oil, gas, and water and also discard sediments or other undesirable components in preparation for pipeline or tanker transport to the transfer point. Routine maintenance and downtime are scheduled to minimize delays and keep equipment working efficiently. Efficiencies related to rotating equipment performance, for example, are automated to check for declines that may indicate a need for maintenance. Utilization (the ratio of production to total capacity) is checked along with separator and well-test quality to ensure that the range of acceptable performance is met. Sensors attached to pipelines permit remote monitoring and control of pipeline integrity and flow. For example, engineers can remotely regulate the flow of glycol inside pipelines that are building up with hydrates (solid gas crystals formed under low temperatures and pressure). In addition, engineers monitoring sensing equipment can identify potential leaks from corrosion by examining light-scattering data or electric conductivity, and shutdown valves divert flow when leaks are detected. The oldest technique to prevent buildup and corrosion involves using a mechanical device called a “pig,” a plastic disk that is run through the pipeline to ream the pipe back to normal operational condition. Another type of pig is the smart pig, which is used to detect problems in the pipeline without shutting down pipeline operations.

With respect to the environment, master operating plans include provisions to minimize waste, including greenhouse gas emissions that may affect climate. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is part of most operators’ plans, which are designed to prevent the emission of flare gas during oil production by sequestering the gas in existing depleted reservoirs and cleaning and reinjecting it into producing reservoirs as an enhanced recovery mechanism. These operations help both the operator and the environment by assisting oil production operations and improving the quality of life for nearby communities.

The final phase in the life of a producing field is abandonment. Wells and producing facilities are scheduled for abandonment only after multiple reviews by management, operations, and engineering departments and by regulatory agencies. Wells are selected for abandonment if their well bores are collapsing or otherwise unsafe. Typically, these wells are plugged with packers that seal off open reservoir zones from their connections with freshwater zones or the surface. In some cases the sections of the wells that span formerly producing zones are cemented but not totally abandoned. This is typical for fields involved in continued production or intended for expansion into new areas. In the case of well abandonment, a workover rig is brought to the field to pull up salvageable materials, such as production tubing, liners, screens, casing, and the wellhead. The workover rig is often a smaller version of a drilling rig, but it is more mobile and constructed without the rotary head. Aside from being involved in the process of well abandonment, workover rigs can be used to reopen producing wells whose downhole systems have failed and pumps or wells that require chemical or mechanical treatments to reinvigorate their producing zones. Upon abandonment, the workover rig is demobilized, all surface connections are removed, and the well site is reconditioned according to its local environment. In most countries, regulatory representatives review and approve abandonments and confirm that the well and the well site are safely closed.