Saudi Aramco has in place a well established set of priorities which resulted last year in the company recording one of its safest and most environmentally-friendly years ever.

Ten Executive Management Safety Reviews were conducted, with senior corporate leaders visiting field locations for in-depth reviews of safety practices.

Saudi Aramco maintains a strong and highly visible programme of safety, both on the job and in the communities in which it operates. A corporate loss-prevention programme encompasses nearly every aspect of company safety, from planning and design through to standards and equipment.

It has resulted in major strides in preventing accidents which cause injury and property loss. The company places particular emphasis on encouraging safety-conscious attitudes and conduct through incentives and continuous safety training.

As a core value, safety is stressed at every job level and operation, resulting in heightened awareness of accident-free work.

Care is naturally taken by the company to safeguard every facility and assure that the facilities also comply with strict environmental rules and regulations.

One of the top priorities is the safe handling of Saudi Aramco crude oil as it is transported around the world. Thus, avoidance of accidents and responding to the unexpected are key elements of the company's operations.

This so-called preparedness has seen the company participate in major oil spill exercises, such as testing the collective ability to protect seawater intakes at Jubail Desalination Plant and to contain spills with existing resources.

Saudi Aramco's commitment to environmental protection covers a number of possible pollution sources and monitoring operations.

The company, for example, operates several sophisticated air monitoring stations throughout the Kingdom to ensure that facilities meet national and company air quality standards, including limits on sulphur dioxide, inhaleble particulates, ozone, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide, among other pollutants.

Air quality in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province has benefited greatly from construction of the company's Master Gas System, which significantly reduced the need for flaring when it was established in the 1970s. The system also recovers more than 3,500 tonnes of elemental sulphur per day from associated gas.

Many advanced technologies are used to measure or control the level of air pollutants emitted to the atmosphere from Saudi Aramco's industrial facilities, including stack testing, continuous emission monitoring and process control monitoring.

Air dispersion modelling enables the company to estimate pollutant concentrations at various distances from a potential emission source before a facility is built or modified. Estimates from predictive modelling can be used to determine the nature and extent of the facility controls needed to reduce emissions to a level that will meet set standards.

Saudi Aramco assesses water quality from source through to distribution to ensure that it is free from harmful biological and chemical contamination and is safe for use. Water wells, seawater intakes, treatment plants and distribution systems are routinely inspected to ensure compliance with company standards. Likewise, water samples are continually collected from groundwater monitoring wells in order to detect contamination at waste storage and disposal sites, industrial plants, oilfields, and surface water disposal facilities.

Saudi Aramco also monitors its industrial and community wastewater for physiochemical, organic, non-organic and biological pollutants. Data is analysed and reported to the Kingdom's Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA).

Saudi Aramco's comprehensive Industrial Waste Management Plan ensures that wastes are properly handled to protect the environment. The plan, which has received international recognition, provides for the special industrial waste management needs of each of the company's operating plants.

The company employs several environmentally-acceptable methods for treating industrial waste. Approved sanitary landfills are used for the disposal of solid waste, while industrial wastes are segregated and handled according to approved industry practices. State-of-the-art rotary autoclaves are used for the sterilisation and disposal of medical waste.

Saudi Aramco has constructed several industrial waste treatment plants, which include more than 100 separators to treat oily water, four landfarms to treat oily sludge and two weathering areas to treat leaded sludge.

In addition to proper waste management, Saudi Aramco has an active Waste Minimisation Program which has reduced waste generation and lowered associated costs. Some of these measures include installation of flare-gas compressors to recover gases, use of flue-gas oxygen analysers to optimise fuel consumption and minimise emissions and off-site regeneration of the cobalt-molybdenum catalyst.