據美國鉆井網站報道，監測專家Senstar日前已經確定了影響2023年石油和天然氣行業的三大安全趨勢： 持續不斷的沖突和物理安全威脅，新的人工智能增強技術，以及對網絡安全威脅保持警惕。

Senstar產品經理斯圖爾特·杜瓦告訴美國鉆井網站記者：“地緣政治沖突、地區不穩定、潛在的地緣政治或生態恐怖主義，繼續對油氣基礎設施及其人員的物理安全構成重大威脅。”

杜瓦說，“2023年及以后的一個具體重點領域是液化天然氣基礎設施的物理安全，包括工廠、出口終端和再氣化設施。液化天然氣基礎設施的戰略意義再怎么強調也不過分——在許多司法管轄區，物理安全系統必須在運營開始之前得到全面認證，這使得液化天然氣設施成為具有大量安全要求的高價值目標。”

杜瓦指出，為了降低這些風險，油氣公司正在投入大量資源來提高他們在發生物理安全威脅時檢測的能力，通過改進的遠程監控來保持態勢感知，并縮短安全衛隊的反應時間。

杜瓦說，“對于埋地管道來說，這意味著部署遠程光纖傳感器，可以將干擾定位和分類到幾英尺或幾米內，并將這些信息傳遞到中央監測中心。”

他補充說：“對于石油和天然氣設施，新一代周界入侵傳感器、低成本熱成像攝像機和人工智能視頻分析為安全人員提供了更好的態勢感知能力，使他們能夠在形勢發展時采取快速有效的行動。”

人工智能技術，網絡安全

杜瓦還強調說，涉及新人工智能技術的媒體報道在2022年受到了“大量關注”，并表示這一趨勢將在2023年繼續下去。

他說：“對于石油和天然氣行業來說，人工智能驅動的深度學習有可能徹底改變基于數據的決策的各個方面，從地質調查到市場預測到入侵目標檢測。”

“從本質上講，人工智能是將經驗智能添加到基于大型數據集訓練做出的決策中。對于物理安全應用，人工智能增強的智能將導致安全和視頻監控系統更好地決定什么是威脅，什么不是威脅，避免出現與假積極結果相關的干擾。”

杜瓦繼續說道：“人工智能應用程序將繼續在石油和天然氣行業取得進展，特別是由于應用程序的成熟以及更容易部署。”

杜瓦告訴美國鉆井網站記者，雖然油氣基礎設施的物理安全是最受關注的問題，但網絡安全也是最受關注的問題。

他說：“事實上，由于獨立系統日益整合，以增強能力和簡化操作，實體和網絡領域之間的分離正在迅速消失。”

他補充說：“惡意行為者，特別是在國家支持的層面上，可以利用網絡安全漏洞來破壞運營，竊取知識產權，并將組織作為贖金要求的人質。”

“在組織層面，我們可以預期將繼續關注全面的網絡安全審計和最佳實踐的實施，而在產品層面，我們將更加關注減少攻擊媒介、解決漏洞和實施網絡入侵檢測軟件。”杜瓦繼續說道。 

沿中東地緣政治斷層線的摩擦與日俱增

當美國鉆井網站向全球風險情報公司Verisk Maplecroft詢問今年油氣市場的安全趨勢時，該公司發言人提交了一份報告，報告指出，沿中東所有主要的地緣政治斷層線，摩擦正在增加。  

Verisk Maplecroft分析師在報告中指出：“沿中東幾條地緣政治斷層線不斷升級的緊張局勢，有可能破壞中東的石油供應。”

分析人士在報告中表示：“在所有這些地緣政治斷層線上的摩擦不斷增加的情況下，風險不僅僅是針對能源基礎設施和航運的襲擊更加頻繁。” 

“更廣泛的地區對抗對全球石油市場產生廣泛影響的風險也高得令人不安。”分析師們補充道。

根據英國石油公司對世界能源的最新統計回顧，沙特阿拉伯2021年的石油日產量為1095萬桶，居全球第二。英國石油公司的統計審查顯示，2021年全球最大的石油生產國是美國，每天石油產量為1658萬桶。

李峻 編譯自 美國鉆井網站

原文如下：

Oil and Gas Security Trends in 2023

Surveillance specialist Senstar has identified three security trends affecting the oil and gas sector in 2023；ongoing conflicts and physical threats, new artificial intelligence-enhanced technologies, and remaining vigilant against cybersecurity threats. 

“The conflict , regional instabilities, and the potential for geopolitical or ecological-based terrorism continues to pose substantial threats to the physical security of oil and gas infrastructure and its personnel,” Senstar Product Manager Stewart Dewar told Rigzone.

“One specific area of focus in 2023 and beyond is the physical security of LNG infrastructure, including plants, export terminals, and regasification facilities. The strategic significance of LNG infrastructure cannot be overstated - in many jurisdictions, physical security systems must be fully certificated before operations can even start, making LNG facilities high-value targets with substantial security requirements,” he continued.

To mitigate these risks, oil and gas companies are devoting substantial resources to improving their ability to detect physical security threats as they occur, maintain situational awareness via improved remote monitoring, and reduce reaction times of security forces, Dewar noted.

“For buried pipelines, this means the deployment of long-range fiber optic sensors that can locate and classify disturbances to within a few feet or meters and relay this information to central monitoring centers,” he said.

“For oil and gas facilities, a new generation of perimeter intrusion sensors, low-cost thermal cameras, and AI-powered video analytics provide security personnel with improved situational awareness, empowering them to take quick and effective action as situations develop,” he added.

AI Tech, Cybersecurity

Dewar also highlighted that media stories involving new AI technologies received “substantial attention” in 2022 and said this trend will continue this year.

“For the oil and gas industry, AI-powered deep learning has the potential to revolutionize all aspects of decision making based on data, from geological surveys to market forecasts to intruder detection,” he said.

“At its heart, AI is about adding experiential intelligence to decisions being made based on training from large datasets. For physical security applications, AI-enhanced intelligence will result in security and video surveillance systems making better decisions about what is and is not a threat, avoiding the distractions associated with false positive results,” he added.

“Given their potentially game-changing benefits, AI-enabled applications will continue to make in-roads in the oil and gas industry, especially as applications mature and become easier to deploy,” Dewar continued.

While the physical security of oil and gas infrastructure is a top concern, so too is cybersecurity, Dewar told Rigzone.

“In fact, as separate systems become increasingly integrated, to enhance capabilities and streamline operations, the separation between physical and cyber realms is quickly dissolving,” he said.

“Malicious actors, particularly on the state-sponsored level, can exploit cybersecurity weaknesses to disrupt operations, steal intellectual property, and hold organizations hostage to ransom demands,” he added.

“At an organizational level, we can expect a continued focus on comprehensive cybersecurity audits and the implementation of best practices, while on a product level, an increased focus on reducing attack vectors, addressing vulnerabilities, and implementing network intrusion detection software will be prioritized,” Dewar went on to state.

Friction Increasing Along Middle East Geopolitical Fault Lines

When Rigzone asked global risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft what security trends it expected to see in the oil and gas market this year, a company spokesperson sent through a report which noted that friction was increasing along all of the Middle East’s main geopolitical fault lines.

“Rising tensions along several fault lines are threatening to disrupt the supply of oil from the Middle East,” Verisk Maplecroft analysts stated in the report.

“Amid increasing friction along all these fault lines, the risk is not just more frequent attacks against energy infrastructure and shipping,” the analysts said in the report.

“The risk of a broader regional confrontation with wide-reaching consequences for the global oil market is also uncomfortably high,” the analysts added.

According to BP’s latest statistical review of world energy, Saudi Arabia ranked second in global oil production in 2021 with an output of 10.95 million barrels of oil per day. The top oil producer in 2021 was the U.S. with 16.58 million barrels per day, BP’s statistical review showed.