Holistic security risk management strategies for E&Ps: optimizing performance by reducing surface risk

Abstract Exploration and production companies frequently partner with host countries that struggle to maintain political stability and eliminate security threats, making it difficult to develop security strategies to protect company employees and assets in country. Exploring this problem, we interview elite actors who populate germane risk management networks, providing a cross-section of perspectives as to how well upstream producers are crafting and implementing security risk management strategies. We construct a model of holistic security risk governance, and apply it to what our dataset reveals about firm performance in this area. Finally, we recommend ways in which industry-level responses can support exploration and production companies to reduce their risk and enhance their performance.