Colombian army conducts emergency exercise for oil company

The Colombian army has successfully conducted an emergency management exercise for a private oil company using MASA Group’s simulation software.

MASA SWORD was adopted by the ESDEGUE (Colombian Superior War College) last August to equip its training centre for command staff. The smart simulation platform allows scenarios for both military and public safety decision-makers. The company announced ESDEGUE’s first use of its constructive simulation SWORD to train crisis supervisors and decision makers of a private oil company.

Pipeline attacks

Ecopetrol, the fourth largest oil company in South America, assigned a crisis management team to participate at a strategic-level training exercise at ESDEGUE headquarters in February 2013. The objective of the exercise was to evaluate and improve the company's response to attacks on its pipelines. Ecopetrol also wanted to test its reaction times and coordination with the military organisation. The training exercise, held over two days in Bogota, gave Ecopetrol important practical experience applying emergency protocols in specific contexts.

Simulation software

SWORD is an automated simulation software for efficient training and analysis at national/regional levels, that can be used for both military and crisis management exercises. During the recent exercise with Ecopetrol, ESDEGUE used SWORD to create a scenario customised with specific elements (such as terrorist attacks on pipelines) for emergency management training.

Military training

The move by ESDEGUE, to extend its 'best-of-breed' military simulation and training services to the private sector, was the first of its kind since the acquisition of the software in August 2013. The introduction creates a 'win-win' model for sustainable public-private partnerships in which private companies benefit both from world-class exercise environments and simulation technologies as well as rigorous and effective military training methods. At the same time, military institutions such as ESDEGUE can diversify and multiply their funding sources, enabling continued improvement to their software and hardware infrastructure.

Comments

Teniente Coronel Johny Hernando Bautista Beltram, Head of CESAC at ESDEGUE

"It is our mission to guarantee the security of the nation. We are proud to share our experience and cutting-edge technology with strategic industrial stakeholders to improve their security and therefore ensure the supply to the nation. ESDEGUE's training centre with its state-of-the-art simulation tools is becoming the new reference in terms of crisis management and defense training. SWORD has been a major contribution to develop such a high level of training expertise and capabilities. SWORD has also broadened the scope of our training actions thanks to its automation capabilities".

Manuel Bautista, Security Director at Ecopetrol

"At Ecopetrol, we are involved in a permanent quality improvement process to strengthen our security. We need to train the different forces dedicated to securing our pipelines. SWORD is a tool that allowed us to have realistic scenarios and conditions involving both military and civilian forces".

Juan Pablo Torres, CEO of MASA Group

"Our partnership with the ESDEGUE illustrates and confirms SWORD's vast potential throughout South America and other regions in the world with similar needs. We are extremely excited by the new type of public-private collaboration initiated by ESDEGUE with companies such as Ecopetrol. It characterises a breakthrough business model that we will strongly encourage to our users around the world, offering them new horizons of development."

Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/24042014/emergency_army_exercise_for_oil_company_142/