Op-Ed: Aussie energy infrastructure is more important than ever – here’s how to protect it

Petrol, diesel, and natural gas are required to power our modern economy; the latter is one of Australia’s largest sources of export revenue.

While interruptions to operations and supply have been mercifully rare in recent years, the potential repercussions, should a major physical or cyber-security incident disrupt production and distribution for an extended period, are substantial.

The Australian energy sector is worth billions to the economy each year; hence, it is imperative to secure these resources with technology to ensure business continuity and protection of some of the country’s most vital assets.

Maintaining oversight of remote and heavily populated assets

Mitigating this risk is critical, and that means securing oil and gas installations and facilities against both intruders and internal actors seeking to damage, disrupt, and destroy.

In the oil and gas industry, that’s no small challenge. Providing a human response at upstream sites can take many hours, courtesy of the fact that they’re generally located in remote and often unattended environments. Many sites are only visited for scheduled maintenance or inspections. That lack of human presence gives rise to a range of security and operational risks, including unauthorised access, product theft, equipment tampering, sabotage, vandalism, and environmental incidents.

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Downstream facilities tend to face very different physical security challenges, given they’re required to manage the movement of thousands of workers, contractors and visitors.

Stringent WHS regulations compel operators to maintain constant visibility of every individual on site, control access to restricted areas and account for all employees, contractors and visitors quickly during emergencies.

While applying a uniform physical security strategy to this entire ecosystem is impossible, upstream and downstream environments share a common need for timely, accurate information and comprehensive visibility of operations.

Adopting a unified security approach across your oil and gas operations

That’s where a unified physical security technology has a vital role to play.

The term refers to an ecosystem of security products that can be consolidated to allow them to operate as a single unit.

A centrally managed array of automated systems and sensors, such as video analytics, LiDAR, licence plate recognition, geofencing, and drone detection, can be adopted to enhance human oversight over vast and complex facilities.

Map-based interfaces that depict doors, cameras, and intercom systems in a single view make it possible for on-site security personnel to respond quickly when potential incidents of unauthorised entry are detected.

Employees and authorised visitors – such as contractors and delivery personnel – can be more rigorously monitored when access requests are automated, expiry times are added to building passes, and details of who’s entered facilities and when are captured in digital audit trails.

Deploying smart, centrally managed systems allows operators to maintain more rigorous, round-the-clock protection of sites and assets without making an oversized investment in additional security personnel.

Securing the critical infrastructure that underpins our economy

Without uninterrupted access to oil and gas, Australia’s modern economy would cease to function effectively.

That’s why securing the sector’s infrastructure and operations is vital. Drawing on the power of unified security technology allows operators to do so round the clock, at isolated upstream installations and heavily staffed downstream facilities alike, without having to expend extraordinary sums putting ‘boots on the ground’.

Deploying a centrally managed ecosystem of best-of-breed systems can boost situational awareness, fortify defences and make it possible to respond to incidents decisively and fast.

If you’re a player in this sector that’s serious about risk mitigation, it’s a mission-critical investment that will help you safeguard your operations and employees more effectively today and tomorrow.