SPILL PREVENTION

Preventing spills is essential to managing environmental impacts, maintaining our social and regulatory license to operate and ensuring a safe workplace.

Effective spill management requires routine maintenance, situational preparedness, continuous improvement and adherence to regulatory reporting requirements. Our Spill Prevention Principles focus on four areas: transferring fluid, following operational procedures, ensuring equipment integrity and considering spill prevention in our site design. We use these principles to incorporate field-based practices into our operations to prevent spills and to manage and report them accurately if they do occur. 

INNOVATION IN ACTION

RAPID ANOMALY DETECTION

Our teams are continuously exploring ways to harness data and technology to enhance our operations and manage our environmental impact. Initially used at Ovintiv to identify production gains, Rapid Anomaly Detection (RAD) has now been implemented in various areas of our operations, including spill prevention. This program operates in real-time, monitoring aspects such as the health of production equipment and alerting our team to respond when anomalies are detected. For example, when it comes to early intervention and spill prevention, monitoring anomalies in tank volumes can have one of the biggest impacts, allowing operators to catch small leaks before they turn into larger issues. Our Chief Engineering team is working in collaboration with our Chief Digital Office, utilizing data analytics and machine learning to enhance RAD capabilities. This allows us to benefit from unique situations such as applying learnings from our Canadian Operations to unexpected cold snaps in Oklahoma.

Spill Prevention Principles

Fluid Transfer

Checks are in place to reduce spills.

  • Never leave fluid transfers unattended 
  • Conduct regular tank truck inspections 
  • Ensure valves are in the correct position

 

Procedures 

Deviating from procedures can compromise spill prevention.  

  • Follow procedures and do not take shortcuts to prevent spills 
  • Pay attention during start up and shut down of equipment
  • Stop the job if a situation that could lead to a spill is observed

Equipment Integrity

We ensure equipment performs and is maintained correctly.

  • Verify tanks, pipes, valves and hoses are properly installed, inspected, tested and maintained 
  • Validate high-level alarms are fully functioning

Site Design

Site design is critical to preventing spills.  

  • Ensure loading and unloading facilities incorporate spill prevention principles
  • Include workplace efficiencies in site design considerations
  • Certify equipment specifications meet the system requirements to prevent spills