Safety

Safety at unmanned oil well sites is important to the oil and natural gas industry. A key issue is safety at oil field storage tanks. Typically these are located in rural or remote locations – though oil and natural gas development is moving into more urban, more populated areas as well. People who aren’t authorized to be on these sites should stay away from such facilities.

This standard provides environmentally sound practices, including reclamation guidelines, for domestic onshore oil and gas production operations.

The purpose of this guidance document is to identify and describe practices currently used in the oil and natural gas industry to minimize surface environmental impacts.

The connection of a security problem with oil use can be traced to early 20th century concern over access to fuel as the world’s major navies shifted to oil power. Modern day concern over oil security, however, is broader than access to military fuel.

The U.S. oil and natural gas industry has long operated globally, often in unstable regions overseas where security is an integral part of providing for the world’s energy needs. After September 11th, 2001, the industry partnered with federal and local authorities to reevaluate and strengthen our domestic security.

Companies adapted their overseas security experience to domestic installations.Nationwide, oil and gas companies made major investments in construction, training and communications all the way from wellheads and offshore platforms to tankers, ports, pipelines, refineries, storage tanks, and most importantly, employees and their communities.

America’s oil and natural gas industry considers safety its top priority and is committed to developing the technologies, standards and best practices, and programs needed to help ensure that workplace safety is at the forefront of our activities. Also, see API's latest Issue Papers which provides information on topics from access to offshore oil and natural gas to fuel prices and the impact of taxes on the industry.