Worldwide Facilities has announced a partnership with Petro Guardian, a lightning and static protection service provider for oil and gas facilities, to launch Enlightning, an exclusive program to reduce the risk of damage from lightning strikes at oil and gas facilities. The program will also help reduce the cost of insurance and claims mitigation, Worldwide Facilities said.
Enlightning is a bundled product that offers lightning and static protection through Petro Guardian along with a physical damage insurance program offered through Worldwide Facilities. It is designed to encourage insureds to take steps to protect against lightning and static ignition. Such steps will result in preferential underwriting of the insurance policy, Worldwide Facilities said.
“Lightning and static discharge have always been oilfield issues, and in recent years a number of factors have increased the negative impact on underwriting results,” said Rick Burns, senior vice president at Worldwide Facilities. “We immediately recognized Petro Guardian’s capability to address our current market dilemma surrounding lightning strikes at upstream energy facilities.”
The oil industry’s transition from vertical to horizontal wells and from steel to fiberglass tanks have both increased the risk of fire igniting from lightning and static discharges, according to Worldwide Facilities.
“A combined lightning and static protection system is one of the most cost-effective steps operators can take to mitigate risk,” said Harshul Gupta, vice president of technology at Petro Guardian. “The economic value of reducing personnel injuries, environmental spill and production downtime is difficult to debate.”
