Several of Hess’ key processes help to identify and mitigate risks in potential, new and existing operations; achieve operational excellence; and evaluate investment opportunities.
Although these processes are focused on our operated assets, it is important to note that we also review potential risks and conduct assurance reviews for our nonoperated assets, which represent a significant portion of Hess’ capital spend. We generally prioritize four main objectives for reviews of nonoperated assets: making a positive contribution to local communities; influencing project outcomes by focusing on issues with the greatest potential impact; establishing governance structures and project assurance plans; and documenting and internally sharing high value lessons learned.
For a detailed disclosure of our enterprise risk management (ERM), value assurance and lean and innovation processes, please refer to our 2022 Sustainability Report. Due diligence and reliability operations, described below, are key enterprise processes not in our 2022 Sustainability Report.
Due Diligence
Our due diligence processes help us assess nontechnical, aboveground risks – social, environmental, legal, external affairs, compliance, commercial and supply chain– when evaluating opportunities. The purpose of these due diligence processes is to categorize each risk as high, medium or low based on severity in order to inform Hess leadership as they evaluate opportunities and help us mitigate identified risks if a commitment is made to proceed. Ultimately, these processes are complementary to our ERM and value assurance workflows, utilizing the necessary information at key decision points in our investment and project planning processes.
Reliability Operations
Hess operations are supported by a companywide Reliability Operations model that helps to improve equipment reliability by promoting ownership and proactive equipment maintenance.
Our reliability engineering processes are relevant to the specific challenges faced by each asset and support the needs of our colleagues in the field. We also utilize key performance indicators and internal dashboards focused on barrier integrity – a key area of reliability – to improve transparency, ownership and accountability.
In 2022, we continued to enhance the program using Lean principles to undertake detailed analyses of maintenance strategies and to improve performance and reliability through optimized scheduling. Through these reliability efforts, we believe we are enhancing efficiency, reliability, integrity and surveillance; optimizing production and costs; and driving continuous improvement, most importantly in environment, health and safety performance.