TPT November 2018

G LOBA L MARKE T P L AC E

providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. This summer, the former deputy director of GCHQ warned that the country’s oil and gas industry should brace itself for the increased risk of cyberattacks from hostile states. Brian Lord OBE identified the primary cyber threat to oil and gas infrastructure as hostile states developing disruptive capabilities for long-term geopolitical and politico-military ends of their own. He told Jack Peat of The Independent that attacks on vital infrastructure could cause “unprecedented damage and unrest across the world.” (“Oil and Gas Industry Needs to Wake Up to Cyber Threat from Hostile States,” 18 August) Mr Lord cited the oil and gas industry’s complex ecosystem of computation, networking and physical operational processes spread around the world as giving it a broad attack surface with many attack vectors. A typical large oil and gas company may use half a million processors just for oil and gas reservoir simulation, storing petabytes (representing a million gigabytes each) of sensitive and competitive field data. The former GCHQ official said he expected the topic to be high on the industry leaders’ agenda for the International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference, 12-15 November in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Mr Lord said that, as the oil and gas industry digitalises its workforce to keep up with increasing demand, it is clear that it will continue to be a target. He recommended prompt action to counter the threat. If steps are not taken now, he said, “hostile actors will continue to virtually roam freely and unchallenged around oil and gas infrastructures, achieving a greater understanding of how to deliver future attacks at will.” Based in Cheltenham, UK, with several regional hubs, the GCHQ is a 6,000-strong organisation which works closely with partners in the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Technology Graphene lends itself to the protection of pipes for submarine oil and gas delivery Together with the independent research organisation TWI (Cambridge, UK), the University of Manchester announced the discovery of a method of using graphene to prolong the lifetime of pipes crucial to the oil and gas industry. Their procedure is to incorporate the semi-metal graphene – a form of carbon – into a polymer liner used in the pipes that transport crude oil and gas along the seabed. A report on the development in Advanced Materials Interfaces notes that pipes for this purpose are generally made of internal layers of polymer or composite and external strengthening steel. Within the pipe, fluids may be at very high pressure and elevated temperature. (“Graphene Laminated Pipes Could Reduce Corrosion in the Oil and Gas Industry,” 22 August) In situations where carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S) and water penetrate the protective barrier layer of the

Oi l and gas The Trump administration says conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the US US President Donald Trump has adopted “energy dominance” as a national goal, and called for easing what he calls burdensome regulation of oil, gas and coal, including repealing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. In parallel, American oil and gas interests have been campaigning for changes in government conservation efforts on mileage standards, biofuels and electric cars. The two approaches merged this summer. Ellen Knickmeyer of the Associated Press reported from Washington the declaration by the Trump administration that conserving oil is no longer an economic imperative for the US. The assertion dominated a major new policy statement that, in Ms Knickmeyer’s words, “threatens to undermine decades of government campaigns for gas-thrifty cars and other conservation programmes.” The new position was outlined in a July memo from the administration released in support of its proposal to relax fuel mileage standards. The government published the memo online in August, with no fanfare. (“US Says Conserving Oil Is No Longer an Economic Imperative,” 19 August) The rationale for the proposed changes relies on an Energy Department finding that growth of natural gas and other alternatives to petroleum has reduced the US need for imported oil, which “in turn affects the need of the nation to conserve energy.” The memo also cites the decade-old fracking revolution that has unlocked US shale oil reserves, assertedly giving “the United States more flexibility than in the past to use [our] oil resources with less concern.” The administration’s memo challenges traditional justifications for conservation – even those, like the mileage standards, prescribed by Congress. The memo made no mention of climate change, the existence of which is questioned by President Trump. Transportation, observed Ms Knickmeyer, “is the single largest source of climate-changing emissions.” R eaction was quick , noted the AP Senator TomCarper, of Delaware, said, “American businesses, consumers and our environment are all the losers under his plan. The only clear winner is the oil industry. It’s not hard to see whose side President Trump is on.” Tom Kloza, a long- time oil analyst with the Maryland-based Oil Price Information Service, commented, “It’s like saying, ‘I’m a big old fat guy, and food prices have dropped – it’s time to start eating again.’” Cyber secur i ty A former security official issues a stark warning about the ‘hostile actors’ menacing the oil and gas industry of the UK The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is the intelligence and security organisation responsible for

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NOVEMBER 2018