Across Africa, oil and gas represent a seismic economic shift.
By Rudie Opperman, manager: engineering and training, Middle East & Africa at Axis Communications
In South Africa, multiple developments in 2024, such as the publishing of a new petroleum bill and energy companies acquiring and expanding their offshore interests, point to the industry’s bright future in the continent’s largest economy.
And just recently, Rwanda made its first oil discovery in Lake Kivu, a discovery that aligns with the government’s strategy to expand revenue sources through the exploitation of hydrocarbons and mining resources.
For O&G operators in Africa, physical security remains one of the biggest considerations, particularly when it comes to perimeter protection and the ability to mitigate intruder-related incidents. What’s needed is a multi-layered approach – one that incorporates multiple technologies and solutions to create a holistic, connected system.
For operators, the path forward is looking beyond simple intrusion detection and, instead, seeing the bigger picture and the benefits of a more comprehensive strategy.
Security on the edge
Thanks to video surveillance solutions now featuring advanced processing capabilities, cameras are no longer just ‘recording devices’. They are edge-based devices that can gather metadata as well as act as servers at network endpoints, communicating, controlling, and triggering other devices on the network via open communications protocols. This also lets operators retain system scalability as they can then easily integrate other open surveillance solutions into their infrastructure.
With cameras now serving as powerful edge devices, they become the first ingredient and layer of an optimised intrusion protection system, acting as powerful sensors that are the first line of defence in securing people, sites, and industrial assets.
Let’s start at the fence
The first layer of an enhanced intrusion protection system begins with detection at the outer perimeter. Radar devices oriented towards the outer perimeter of a site can spot a potential threat and notify operators before it reaches the fence line or ‘buffer zone’. Adding to this, thermal cameras equipped with object analytics can verify whether the threat is an intruder or not, while also delivering detection accuracy regardless of light or weather conditions.
Once an intruder is detected, operators can either raise the alarm immediately or configure their system should the intruder breach a previously classified area. Doing so lowers the potential for false alarms while enabling the system to detect the intruder early on and only engage if their behaviour escalates.
After detection comes verification, the second layer, where visual cameras with tracking analytics monitor the intruder’s movements and provide a visual image of them. At this point, operators can choose to deploy deterrents such as Strobe, sirens or audio speakers to flood the area with light or deliver an audio message, as well as help direct response teams to the intruder’s location before they can act further. All this shows how the connected implementation of these security solutions enables operators to enforce a standard procedure and adhere to protocols for maximum impact and efficiency.
Keeping watch on all the doors
Access control is the third layer of an effective intrusion protection system. In other words, protecting the perimeter of site buildings, facilities, and zoned areas. Operators can achieve this with devices such as door stations and intercoms that ensure only authorised personnel and visitors can pass through.
The same goes for vehicle access, where cameras with licence plate recognition analytics let operators admit or stop vehicles before entering or leaving sites. These devices can be used in conjunction with two-way intercoms that not only enable efficient access control but also enable two-way audio communication between parties. This is also a critical tool for sites that are automated and not heavily staffed.
Every device, from radar and thermal cameras to intercoms and door stations, forms part of a holistic system that, by design, does not have a single point of failure. Investing in an edge-based system means operators can better mitigate risks like cyberattacks and authorised system access.
Operators can deploy security clusters that run independently of a central server, meaning that should one cluster experience downtime, the rest of the system remains operational. This is also useful as operators can immediately be notified if a cluster is experiencing a fault.
Securing your premises, saving you money
An edge-based intrusion protection system offers the latest in innovation as well as an opportunity to cut system costs. Operators can reduce the bandwidth requirements and additional video streams that would otherwise need to be sent to a central server, thereby lowering the amount of necessary active and passive network equipment such as additional servers and UPS devices.
The security devices in question also offer an opportunity to optimise costs, as thermal cameras can cover larger areas than traditional visual cameras, resulting in all kinds of savings from video management software licences to overall system power consumption.
As Africa’s O&G industry continues to grow and evolve, enterprises will need to rethink perimeter security in terms of connectivity and efficiency. By building an edge-based and connected intrusion protection system that incorporates several layers of security, enterprises set themselves up for long-term gains, leveraging a holistic system that can grow and evolve as they do, while offering protection reliably and cost-effectively.