Until the events of September 11, 2001, the Oil & Gas industry was one of the least developed sectors on the security market. Investing in security infrastructure was not a high priority.
The main risks, such as loss of containment in a process unit or storage tank; theft in pipelines, distribution centers and trucks; interruption, disruption or attack by thrid parties can cause serious damage to people, the environment , processes, installations and the continuity of the business. These risks have been mostly accepted as costs of doing business in this industry.
During the last few years a lot of efforts have been done worldwide to increase the security in this sector. The circumstances and the behavior of the market players are changing rapidly - also driven by the globally increased security awareness.
In April 2003, the American Petroleum Institute (API) published the second edition of the Security Guidelines for the Petroleum Industry to provide general security guidance to owners and operators in the petroleum industry for managing risks including the guidance on the principles of security vulnerability analysis. This also indicates that there is a huge demand for comprehensive security solutions in this industry.