Due to its environmental attributes, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as a clean fossil fuel source of energy has witnessed a steady increase in demand worldwide over the last decade. This increase is mainly attributed to higher demand from the power generation sector as well as from domestic and industrial usages .This growing role of LNG among competing energy sources has raised concerns over the safety and security of the LNG chain of production, transport and distribution and its related infrastructure. Within this context, LNG ports and marine terminals, being strategically located at the midstream of the LNG Supply Chain (SC), are further exposed to safety and security risks and represent credible targets for international terrorism. Ensuring uninterrupted, robust and resilient LNG SC requires first, adequate management of safety and security risks in LNG ports and marine terminals. While each discipline of risk, be it safety or security, has received significant attention both in theory and practice, less attention was given to the management of interfaces and shared impacts among LNG Ports safety and security risks which led to the existence of gaps in the risk management (RM) systems of LNG ports and may represent a major source of risk and disruption to LNG ports. This research addresses such gaps which are poorly addressed in the current literature and proposes a holistic and integrated approach to the issues of LNG ports safety and security risks assessment and management. It also aims to model safety and security RM from a SC perspective and examines the relationships and shared impacts among LNG ports safety and security risks in the present context of increased LNG demand worldwide in the post 9/11 terrorism era. A unique combination of multiple methods within port and maritime SCs, including a Delphi survey, quantitative survey, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and a focus group expert consultation, is applied to reformulate the prevailing RM approach marked by dichotomy and a disciplinary silo and to propose a more enhanced and holistic approach to safety and security RM. The results of the study confirm that an integrated and holistic approach to the issue of RM in LNG ports and marine terminals is necessary to cost-effectively address safety and security risks and ensure reliable and resilient LNG SCs. Furthermore, a practical framework, in the form of a conceptual model, for LNG ports risks and emergencies management is proposed which integrates all facets of safety and security risks and emergencies management, including risk prevention, mitigation, emergency planning and response and port business continuity. The proposed conceptual model shows how the proposed RM approach can be practically applied in the context of LNG ports in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, as well as in any LNG port worldwide which lacks an integrated approach to risks and emergencies management.

Diante do crescimento de ameaças extremas, a gestão do risco de desastres é um campo em transformação. Marcos internacionais, que promovem a preparação da resiliência física e financeira nos países, e a lei que institui a Política Nacional de Proteção e Defesa Civil, orientam a mudança de foco da resposta à prevenção, exigindo desdobrar o tema em agendas urbanas variadas. Compreender fatores que amplificam riscos é um dos pontos dessa agenda: em contextos adensados, há vulnerabilidade criada pela própria complexidade e interdependência de grandes sistemas de infraestrutura urbana. Sobre ela, a precariedade urbana acumula vulnerabilidades que podem não resultar em simples soma, mas na escalada dos riscos. Situações classificadas como baixo risco por um setor, quando associadas, podem desencadear efeitos de grande escala. Contribuindo como método para análise de riscos desse contexto, esta tese aborda dimensão desafiadora: a Região Metropolitana de São Paulo como segunda natureza. Compreende desastres como falhas de sistemas urbanos, e busca analisar interfaces em risco que podem amplificar impactos. Identifica, nos conflitos entre escalas local e regional, riscos residuais, falhas sistêmicas, de interface e de desenvolvimento intersetorial. Como base empírica, levanta instrumentos de planejamento e de identificação de risco já existentes e potenciais, e desenvolve análise quantitativa de ocorrências na abrangência Metropolitana para os últimos 10 anos. A análise qualitativa, baseada em notícias de jornal dos períodos com eventos mais críticos, foi desdobrada por meio de entrevistas e levantamento de processos, planos, propostas e programas existentes para 3 casos emblemáticos na RMSP: inundações persistentes no Jardim Pantanal; conflitos entre ocupação, controle de inundação e o Sistema Cantareira na região Norte; e conflitos nos aproveitamentos hídricos a oeste, com impactos extrametropolitanos. As conclusões conduzem a uma agenda específica de pesquisa urbana, como campo que pode conferir visão integradora e de coordenação ao tema da gestão de riscos. / As extreme weather threats rise, disaster risk management field constantly change. Both the International policy frameworks, which promote physical and financial resilience to the countries, and the Brazilian National Policy on Civil Protection and Defense, are driving the focus from response to prevention. This requires a deeper and broader understanding of risk management in urban agenda. Understanding conditions that amplify risks is one of the points of this agenda: there are vulnerabilities created by the very complexity and interdependence of large urban infrastructure systems in large cities and metropolises. On them, urban precariousness overlaps vulnerabilities that may not result in simple sum, but in the escalating of risks. Situations classified as low risk by one sector, when associated, can trigger large-scale effects. Proposing a method for risk analysis of these situations, this thesis addresses a challenging dimension: the São Paulo Metropolitan Region and its second nature. It understands disasters as failures of urban systems, and analyzes interfaces at risk that can increase impacts. It identifies residual risks, interface and systemic failures, and intersectoral development gaps in local and regional cross-scale conflicts. The research was based on surveying existing and potential urban planning instruments and risk identification instruments, and on quantitative analysis of occurrences within the metropolitan area for the last decade. The qualitative analysis was based on newspaper reports from the periods with the most critical events. It was detailed through interviews and survey of existing processes, plans, proposals and programs for 3 emblematic cases in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area: floods in Jardim Pantanal, in the east region; conflicts between urban settlements, flood control and the Cantareira Water Supply System in the north region; and water resources conflicts in the west region, with extra-metropolitan impacts. The conclusions lead to a specific research urban agenda, as a field that might integrate and coordinate actions towards a more effective urban risk management.