Risk focus areas
IRF members have undertaken an ‘opportunity statement’ approach as a means of highlighting significant industry risk issues and encouraging industry to address them collectively.
Specifically, the IRF has identified three high-priority risk topics for the oil and gas industry to address (see links below), and supports the industry’s focus in developing solutions:
Open Opportunity Statements:
- Digitalization – reducing risks from automated systems with a human-centered design approach.
- Investigation quality/sharing and application of learnings – improve investigation quality and improve ways to embed learnings from past incidents and near misses.
These high-priority risk topics are documented in individual ‘Opportunity Statements’ that:
- the problem
- the changes we expect to see
- the industry association(s) invited to lead the change/develop the solution
- key performance indicators
Additional information on the opportunity statement initiative to support the continued reduction of key industry risks is provided in this presentation slide pack
Opportunity Statements and Supporting Information
Digitalization
Investigation quality/sharing and application of learnings
‘Closed Out & Monitor’ Opportunity Statements
Following the outcomes/deliverables of an Opportunity Statement, IRF members follow a process to ‘close out and monitor’ the Opportunity Statement. This allows IRF members to work on new Opportunity Statements, while still allowing an avenue to collate insights and observations on outcomes from closed Opportunity Statements annually.
‘Closed out and monitor’ Opportunity Statements are listed below:
- Prevention of well control incidents – greater emphasis on the left-hand side of the well control bow-tie (i.e. prevention of incidents), particularly with regards to pore pressure and fracture gradient prediction and monitoring.
April 2025 - Closed out & monitor, see outcomes below.
- Opportunity Statement
- IRF Briefing Pack
Outcomes:
- IOGP Report 608 – Recommended practice for pore pressure and fracture gradient analysis for well design – construction, intervention, and abandonment
- IOGP Info Sheet - Communicating pore pressure fracture gradient (PPFG) interpretation and uncertainty
Topical Articles
In the interest of promoting best sustainable safety performance globally, IRF members routinely write and publish articles addressing areas of concern, and areas where further actions are required within the industry to reduce risk.
Please check back regularly for new articles.