Tap Oil Limited is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company. The Company has exploration and development assets in Australia, South East Asia, and West Africa.

As part of their extensive exploration campaign in Brunei, we were asked to review existing safety management functions and develop new processes, for this campaign that focused heavily on contractor management.

This project involved significant assessment and management of their primary drilling contractor, both their systems and performance. A gap analysis was conducted of both the Tap Oil systems and those of their drilling contractors.

Once gaps were identified, an integration plan was developed to ensure that the drilling contractors consistently followed and operated to their known operational procedures, but complied with the Tap Oil safety obligations of their corporate system, and also those of the Brunei safety regulatory authorities.

Considerable time was actually spent with the drilling contractors on site so that they were fully briefed on what was being developed and why. This was a critical part of the overall strategy, to ensure that the drilling contractor’s systems maintained their integrity and that the Tap Oil needs were also being met.

Establishing strong relationships and effective communication strategies with multiple parties in this context is key for us and make the difference between just doing enough, versus doing something exceptionally well. It was most certainly the communication and engagement focus, that truly made this a successful project for Tap Oil and its drilling contractors.