INERCO’S inernational experience in the oil&gas sector in Latin America

Latin America is one of INERCO’s key destinations. With more than 30 years’ international experience in the fields of engineering, energy technology and consulting in industrial safety, occupational health and safety and the environment, the company’s active presence in Latin America includes not only one-off projects in sectors including oil&gas, chemicals, petrochemicals, mining, electricity and gas and civil infrastructure, among others; since 2010, the INERCO Group has had a presence, with its own offices and staff, in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, validating INERCO’s status as a provider of global services since the very beginning.

In fact, oil&gas is one of the sectors where INERCO is most experienced. Testament to this are the company’s wok for Petrobras, Pemex, PDVSA, Ecopetrol, Petroperú, ENAP, Repsol, Cepsa, Exxon Mobile and ConocoPhillips, among others. These projects afforded the company the opportunity to provide services in the fields of risk prevention and occupational health, industrial safety and the environment.

INERCO was selected by Petrobras in 2015 to provide technical services in occupational hygiene at several of the company’s platforms and maritime units; work for this project has a timeframe of three years. INERCO’s specialised technicians carry out risk assessments for exposure to noise, heat and chemical agents, providing both onshore and offshore services (the latter covering 95 per cent of the actions). The technicians are also responsible for creating homogenous exposure groups, applying Preliminary Risk Analysis for Occupational Hygiene (APR-HO, for its Spanish abbreviation) as the analysis technique.

These occupational hygiene services take place on board Petrobras’ maritime units in Rio de Janeiro (Macaé), São Paulo (Santos), Espirito Santo (Vitória), Bahía (Salvador), Sergipe (Aracajú) and Santa Catarina (Itajaí), while the onshore work is carried out in Macaé (Rio de Janeiro). Work has been carried out to date on four oil platforms, as well as eight survey ships and onshore workshops.

Also in Brazil, INERCO was responsible in 2016 for the archaeological studies for gas pipelines in inland São Paulo for Gas Natural Fenosa and HAZOP and reliability studies for natural gas compressor stations for TBG (Transportadora Brasileira Gasoducto Bolívia–Brasil).

In addition to this, INERCO’s proprietary technology for optimising process furnace combustion is currently being installed in the Landulpho Alves refinery, operated by Petrobras. This project will enable improved energy yield and the reduction of the plant’s emissions, using technology that has already been proven at plants in Europe and the Americas.

In Mexico, INERCO contributed its experience in the field of occupational health and safety in a large Odebrecht project, the construction of a 400 km stretch of the Los Ramones II Norte gas pipeline. In 2015, the company carried out the risk recognition (identifying and assessing hygiene and ergonomic risks) and preventive measure proposals for this strategic infrastructure project.

In Peru, INERCO has experience preparing exploration- and operation-phaserisk studies in the Oil&Gas sector, carrying out analyses using the HAZID, HAZOP, BowTie and Safety Barrier techniques. Thanks to these studies, companies including PACIFIC, CNPC, REPSOL and PECSA were issued reports approving the continuation of their activities and the initiation of new projects.

INERCO also carried out a broad process of bankability for a project to modernise a refinery, auditing compliance with the Equator Principles and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standards.

In the field of the environment, in Colombia, INERCOwas responsible for environmental monitoring in the Nare and Velasquez oil fields for Mansarovar. The environmental inventory work specifically included calculating the carbon and water footprints, the environmental risk analysis, the implementation of standard ISO 50001 and archaeological monitoring.

In Chile, INERCO carried out environmental monitoring of water and marine sediment quality and potential impacts on areas of the seaboard in the event of the ENAP contingency plan being activated due to accidental hydrocarbon spills in Quintero Bay. The Bay is situated in the central region of Chile, where ENAP has the Port of Quintero and the Acongua oil refinery.