Impacts of Petroleum Industry: Health, Safety, and Environmental Issues

This study identifies the significance of safety needs within the downstream division of the petroleum industry. It also reviews three important factors of PESTLE and its impact on ‘Saudi Aramco’. It also identifies the key areas to address in context to the health, safety and environmental issues of the indigenous people and their communities.

Running head: SAUDI ARAMCO
Introduction to Oil and Gas Environment
[Saudi Aramco]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary
This study is aimed at identifying the impacts of petroleum industry especially the companies
operating in the downstream business. The study describes the importance to maintain and
follow the safety measures while within the downstream business. It also reviews three of the
PESTLE factors and their impact on the success of Saudi Aramco. The study also covers the key
areas to address in order to improve the living standard of indigenous people and their
communities living close to both upstream and the downstream regions of the petroleum
industry.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
1. The significance of ensuring Health and Safety during activities within the downstream
division............................................................................................................................................3
2. A detailed review of 3 PESTLE factors and their impact on the success of Saudi Aramco.......4
Reviewing the factors..................................................................................................................5
Impact on the success of Saudi Aramco......................................................................................6
3. Key areas need to address in regards to health, safety and environmental issues affecting the
indigenous people and their communities.......................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
The petroleum industry is a sector of high-importance for a fact that the business needs of
Oil & Gas industry are fulfilled by it. The incrementing consumption of Oil & Gas in its different
producible forms requires the worldwide oil & gas companies to remain engaged in the
production works (Jafarinejad 2016). However, safety issues have always remained a concern for
the petroleum industry and also remained in continuous criticism for producing the adverse
impacts on communities where the businesses happen (Oladeji, Ikpefan and Olokoyo 2015). This
study is aimed at identifying the significance of safety needs within the downstream division of
the petroleum industry. It also reviews three important factors of PESTLE and its impact on
‘Saudi Aramco’. It also identifies the key areas to address in context to the health, safety and
environmental issues of the indigenous people and their communities.
1. The significance of ensuring Health and Safety during activities within the downstream
division
The whole supply chain in the petroleum industry is divided mainly in three parts such as
upstream, midstream and downstream. In the downstream, businesses such as refining, logistics
and retail & distribution are taken care of. Once, oil & gaseous products are ready to serve to its
end-user, it is being transferred to the distribution and retail facilities either through pipelines and
shipping. Shipping itself is done by various means such as different kind of ships, oil tankers and
others. The end-user receives the different forms of petroleum products in petrol stations,
convenience stores and other formats of retailing (Ambituuni, Amezaga and Werner 2015).
Petrochemical plants, retail stores and other facilities are generally the part of a downstream
business. Hence, those who are living close to the gasoline stations and the transport area are at

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danger. They do not also have the safety measures with them which could protect from any
unpredicted blasts or accident cases.
Health and safety issues are the very common concerns on the different levels of the
downstream division. It is because of the flammable chemicals, powerful equipments and
processes that are conducted at high pressures. Such practice can potentially lead to deadly and
hazardous incidents. All who are working on sites, facilitating the transport, living near to
petrochemical plants and visiting the petrol stations are in danger (Abdel-Shafy and Mansour
2016). In fact, addressing the potential incidents has always remained a biggest challenge to the
petroleum industry. The types of casualties can be of different forms which also require the
effective repairs to be done on each level. For example, transportation is one the zones which is
at the maximum possibilities for fatal accidents. Transportation is facilitated through the
shipments of oil and natural gas to the distributors and retail stores. The next severity level is the
contact injuries where indigenous people living close to the petroleum sites and also the workers
are commonly at threats. The third most severity level zones are the petrol and gasoline stations.
It is followed by exposure to hazardous environments, falls and others (Boughaba, Hassane and
Roukia 2014).
The severity level is so high that it is important to adopt the safety measures and
implement it appropriately to have a fight against the levels of severities. However, it does not
look easies due to the overlapping between institutions and laws.
2. A detailed review of 3 PESTLE factors and their impact on the success of Saudi Aramco
Several factors can affect the success of ‘Saudi Aramco’; however, this section is mainly
aimed at dealing with three of PESTLE in detail.

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Reviewing the factors
Political: The lower prices of per unit barrel of oil which lasted until recently had affected the
NOCs especially the Saudi Aramco. The US emerged as the new largest producer of oil & gas
due to the implementation of latest technologies. Consequently, largest exporting countries such
as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela were being affected massively due to the
reduced oil prices (Fesharaki and Isaak 2016). One of the major reasons for the fact is the
political strategies of Mr. Trump which caused a shift in price to the North (Bjola and Manor
2018). It is already stated that an overlapping of institutions and legal policies have so far
affected the petroleum industry’s capability to improve its safety measures. An unclear
collaboration between the federal and state level governments has also remained a reason for it
(Cheon, Lackner and Urpelainen 2015).
Technology: The resurgence of the United States as the largest supplier of petroleum products is
because of its advancements in terms of major shale fields and the use of advanced technologies
in drillers. It used technologies to squeeze out oil and natural gas from the rock formations. The
capacity to pump a number of barrels of crude oil a day has consequently increased (Kuppusamy
et al. 2017). On the other hand, the demands for crude oil and natural gas have increased in
recent times which mean a possibility for a reduction in the supply chain operational costs
(Dreger et al. 2016). It also means that countries with larger production capabilities will be in
more advantage. Few of the latest technologies such as ‘Artificial Intelligence’, 3D-scanning
technology, the Internet of Things (IoT), ‘Cloud Computing’ and ‘Advanced Robotics’ are the
emerging trends (Yao et al. 2018). These are some really good opportunities for firms like ‘Saudi
Aramco’ to have a resurgence which until recently had been affected from the oil-price drops.

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Environmental: The downstream petroleum division has always remained associated with a
several environmental issues. Distribution activities rely heavily on fossil fuels which are a good
resource to the greenhouse gas emissions. The list of emissions includes sulphur oxides (SOx),
carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The emission is responsible for some
occasional hazardous substances such as the groundwater contamination or solvents from the
production and transportation. Gasoline and Petrol stations are notorious for releasing the
volatile organic compounds (Jafarinejad 2016). These all suggest that person in danger will be
those working at the various Gasoline & Petrol stations and also those residing by the nearby
areas of petrochemical & refinery plants.
Impact on the success of Saudi Aramco
The surge in oil price can positively impact Russia and China. Russia will have the
benefits from international markets. China can buy the crude oil at better deals from Iran and act
as insulate to the trade after the secondary American sanctions. Saudi Arabia can also now rely
on increasing the exports of crude oil and related products to the international markets (Fang and
You 2014).
‘Saudi Aramco’ is into the transformation process to attain more agility and
responsiveness into the process. Knowledge management and technologies are the emerging
concerns. Downstream business will be boosted with strong R&D efforts. New business lines
will be developed through a number of acquisitions and investments (Arab News 2018). The
changes are expected to enhance its ability to produce much and perform better at both the
upstream and downstream divisions. Business at the international markets will also improve. An

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economic instability will expectedly be attained which will positively impact Aramco in years to
come.
3. Key areas need to address in regards to health, safety and environmental issues affecting
the indigenous people and their communities
The petroleum industry has remained associated with its adverse impact on the
indigenous people and their communities. Such an adverse situation is due to the contamination
of oil & natural gas with soil and waters. It is impacting their food resources and the health. They
have been facing these issues for the last forty years. Amazon is one of the regions which are
hardly affected from such adverse impacts. As claimed by the Amazon’s community leaders of
the indigenous group, the developments have been done while not caring their rights over the
natural resources, lands and their priorities for the development (the Guardian 2018).
Such practices have already produced damages to the health & safety of the indigenous
people. They are living in an environment contaminated with polluted elements like greenhouse
gas emissions, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide. These contaminations are the causes of
diseases such as lung damage, chest pain, wheezing, headache, increased fatigue, reduced
resistance to infections and others (Héroux et al. 2015). Indigenous people will remain exposed
to such threats until and unless the few key areas are put to improvements. One of those areas
will be the collaboration between institutions and laws. Effective governance will also be
required to ensure that the international standards for accessing the land for the development
purpose are effectively followed. An appropriate adherence to the existing policies to reduce the
risk factors is also required. Adequate funding will be needed as well for making these changes
to happen (Plumlee et al. 2015).

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Conclusion
In summary, it can be concluded that the health and safety measures are needed to be
implemented in the downstream divisions for preventing on-site accidents and the related
casualties. ‘Saudi Aramco’ can have the resurgence due to the radical changes it is going
through. Indigenous people will not find a much of a difference from governments, organizations
and the other public bodies until and unless the key areas as addressed in this study are fulfilled.

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References
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Ambituuni, A., Amezaga, J. and Emeseh, E., 2014. Analysis of safety and environmental
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