Main conclusions of In Amenas investigation
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The main conclusions of the investigation were:
On the attack:
- The sum of outer and inner security measures failed to protect the people at the site from the attack on In Amenas on 16 January. The Algerian military were not able to detect or prevent the attackers from reaching the site. Security measures at the site were not constructed to withstand or delay an attack of this scale, and relied on military protection working effectively.
- Neither Statoil nor the joint venture could have prevented the attack, but there is reason to question the extent of their reliance on Algerian military protection. Neither of them conceived of a scenario where a large force of armed attackers reached the facility.
- The joint venture incident management team led the civilian crisis response, supported by Sonatrach and many other agencies on the ground. Statoil's contribution to the overall emergency response was effective and professional. The investigation team has not identified areas where a different response by Statoil could have changed the outcome.
On security in Statoil:
- Statoil has established a security risk management system, but the company's overall capabilities and culture must be strengthened to respond to the security risks associated with operations in volatile and complex environments.
As result of the investigation a Security Improvement Programme (SIP) was carried out. Statoil has made significant improvements to security, management’s duty and responsibility and emergency response.
The following improvements have been made:
Area |
Improvements completed |
| Security organisation | New corporate structure in place, all business areas have at least one security professional, implementation of professional security ladder ongoing |
| Governance improvements | Simplification and re-design of security in the management system |
| Threat and risk assessments | All offices and assets underwent security risk assessment before the end of 2014. Security threat updates published weekly on Travel@Statoil on Statoil’s company intranet |
| Physical, personnel and information security | Security plans for all locations underway. New travel portal, location of employees while travelling, executive protection, background checks for all new employees, closing of external USB storage on computers, encryption solution, secure communication through Lync all established |
| Security awareness and competence | 33 workshops for management committees delivered by the Security Improvement Programme (SIP) on all three areas of security, security generalist training introduced, several corporate-wide information activities implemented, rolling “phishing” campaign |
| Monitoring and reporting | Security incident reporting in place in Synergi, simplified reporting implemented, monitoring plan for 2015 in place |
| Networks | Established networks with industry peers, Norwegian government agencies and local security stakeholders for our international businesses |
A British Coroner’s Inquest into the attack on In Amenas conducted by the Royal High Courts of Justice in London was also conducted into the chain of events and security of the site.
The Coroner’s findings were in line with the description given of the chain of events during the attack by the Statoil investigation. The description of how security worked at the facility, and how it was organised, is commensurate with the Statoil report.
The Coroner also had a mandate to give recommendations for improvement of the security measures at the facility in order to prevent future deaths.
After having reviewed the improvements that have been made at In Amenas and had these evaluated by an independent security expert, Coroner Hilliard concluded that it was not necessary for him to make such recommendations. The implemented measures, he concluded, were satisfactory and also covered the recommendations made in the Statoil investigation.
The Coroner chose at the end of the findings to comment that Statoil’s investigation report demonstrated how an effective, timely and constructive inquiry can be held by a commercial organisation.