Term Paper on "Security - Agip Kazakhstan North Caspian Operating"

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Radio communication

This Project is envisaged as a future company wide multi-user system providing benefits to a range of user departments beyond merely the security role.

Chapter 1

1.1 Introduction

The first phase of the AKCO (Agip KCO) Kashagan field development, the Experimental Program (EP) is currently in construction and execution. This consists of the following:

14 production wells injection wells

The combined production capacity of these wells is up to 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The future plans for Agip KCO are quite phenomenal

The EP phase will be substituted by a Full Field Development (FFD) program,

This program will utilize the lessons learned from EP to expand production to 1.5 million barrels per day (MMBPD).

Furthermore the production will be acquired from more than 200 wells.

However, it is noteworthy that FFD is currently in the design phase, and construction is planned to begin after first oil from the EP project is delivered in 2010.

Figure 1 - Kashagan Timeline

At the present time, all phases of the Kashagan development are in progress:

The EP phase is under construction;

FFD is under design; and the Operations phase is currently in the planning stage.

This phase will eventually take over the EP program after construction and start-up is complete.

The Kashagan project is widely considered to be the most complex oil field development in history, primarily because of 2 reasons.

The oil extracted from Kashagan wells is extremely toxic, with a high concentration of lethal hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the extracted natural gas.

Reservoir pressures range from 700-800 bar, requiring state-of-the-art compressors, which will re-inject sour gas (high concentration H2S) to dispose of H2S, increase oil recovery, and maintain pressure in the reservoir.

To minimize the impact of this complexity, AKCO puts a lot of emphasis on ensuring a secure business environment during the Project Construction Phase up to First Oil, by protecting people, assets and information. This will allow AKCO to achieve the following:

Its business goals;

Taking care of the security and safety of its employees;

Demonstrating social responsibilities; and Assisting in minimizing impact on the unique natural environment AKCO operates in.

The Safety, Crisis and Emergency Response Management procedures are currently under development. Complementing those developments, this security feasibility study analyzed the potential benefits offered by the development of advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC. The study, in addition, took into account how other divisions' developments could be re-utilized or complemented through the technology developments for security.

1.2 Background of the study

Joel (2003) in his study point out that companies, today, are more and more dependent on information to make critical business decision. This information is usually stored electronically in computers or company servers. Critical business decisions are made by those at the top end of the workforce hierarchy, who have access to these computers and servers. Corporate profitability, human resource development, asset security are some of areas, which come under the scrutiny before making decisions. This positions the information gateway as the most critical and important asset for the company. A good corporate security policy, therefore, should include protocols to secure this information from both internal and external sources. Joel (2003) writes, security policy establishes what must be done to protect information stored on computers. A well-written policy contains sufficient definition of "what" to do so that the "how" can be identified and measured or evaluated. An effective security policy also protects people. Anyone who makes decisions or takes action in a situation where information is a risk incurs personal risk as well. A security policy allows people to take necessary actions without fear of reprisal. Security policy compels the safeguarding of information, while it eliminates, or at least reduces, personal liability for employees."

Even a basic information security policy should include a comprehensively-written plan of action, which clearly illustrates the priorities of the company when it comes to security. A comprehensively-written plan of action with regards to information security should, at least, include the following in order to not only react but also recover from most risky situations in the minimal possible timeframe:

Risk Assessments

Password Policies

Administrative Responsibilities

User Responsibilities

E-mail Policies

Internet Policies

Disaster Recovery (Backup and Restore)

Intrusion Detection (both physical and virtual) (Joel, 2003)

1.3 Research questions of this study

The core research question of this thesis is as follows:

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to fulfill the security policy of the company?

Additional sub-questions are as follows:

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to fulfill personal security?

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to fulfill the physical security of company assets?

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to fulfill the information security?

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to fulfill the aims of corporate governance?

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to fulfill fraud deterrence

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to manage risk properly?

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to fulfill the business continuity planning?

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to manage crisis effectively?

How can advanced technology security services, including a central security platform for the SOCC be used to fulfill the company policies regarding environment, safety and health?

1.4 Justification of the research

To justify the research on television sponsorship, a few areas are looked at namely current sponsorship research, importance of television sponsorship, corporate sponsorship, neglect of the specific research problem by previous researchers, and usefulness of potential application of research's finding. First, a brief introduction as to why current sponsorship research is lacking.

Chaiw (2001) in his study points out that simply by protecting the information on computers, companies cannot assume that they are safe. The treats of the 21st century go well beyond hacking and stealing vital information. He writes, "Organizations face security threats from a wide range of sources and are vulnerable to attacks such as computer viruses, hacking and denial of service attacks. Information security by technical means is not sufficient and needs to be supported by policies and procedures (Chaiw, 2001)."

He explains his aforementioned point as follows, "Security policies are the foundation and the bottom line of information security in an organization. A well written and implemented policy contains sufficient information on what must be done to protect information and people in the organization. Security policies also establish computer usage guidelines for staff in the course of their job duties (Chaiw, 2001). System administrators and business owners have to acknowledge the fact that security threats exist and how to prevent and respond to them. Identifying and implementing suitable controls requires careful planning and participation of all employees in the organization is also vital for the success of information security management. Therefore, depending on the company's size, financial resources, and the degree of threat, we have to set up a security policy that finds the right balance between the overreacting and the vulnerable of exposing your system to any and every hack. The objective of a well written and implemented security policy is improved information availability, integrity and confidentiality, from both inside and outside the organization (Chaiw, 2001)."

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