DOE crafts security risk assessment metrics on energy assets

Published November 8, 2018, 10:00 PM By Myrna M. Velasco

https://business.mb.com.ph/2018/11/08/doe-crafts-security-risk-assessment-metrics-on-energy-assets/

The Department of Energy (DOE) is working on policy template and metrics that it can employ to assess security risks of various energy facilities in the country – be it in power or the oil and gas sub-segments. 

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said that is a mandate he had assigned to Undersecretary Alexander S. Lopez, a retired vice admiral from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) who had found his way next into the DOE’s leadership portfolio.

“There are security measures we have been working on and government will have security standards for energy facilities,” Cusi said.

Ultimately, the DOE secretary highlighted that these security assessment policy guideposts shall be institutionalized through a Circular that shall be issued by the department.

Cusi added the department would be devising a model “for security risk assessments of energy assets… especially the most vulnerable ones to attacks of lawless elements.”

The energy chief mentioned in particular power transmission assets (towers and lines) that had been the target of violent attacks in recent years – primarily during the Christmas to New Year holidays of 2015 and 2016.

The other “security susceptible” energy assets, according to Cusi, are the oil ad gas exploration facilities – including the Malampaya gas production platform.

He emphasized that there’s already an exclusion zone prescribed for these energy installations, but the DOE still intends to have that reinforced in coordination with the other relevant agencies of the government – such as the Department of National Defense, Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard as well as other law enforcement agencies.

Parallel security measures shall likewise be concretized for other energy facilities, including power plants, oil depots and facilities as well as the logistics infrastructure underpinning their operations. “We will be assessing all of these on the security front, so that when a problem occurs, we should have more or less ‘off-the-shelf solution’ at hand,” Cusi stressed.

He indicated that for the security measures and policies to be crafted, the department will be carrying out consultations with relevant stakeholders on such concerns.