Beyond Technology—Our Commitment to Social Responsibility

Eve S. Sprunt, 2006 SPE President, president@spe.org

New opportunities will increasingly involve heavy oil, or stranded natural gas, or resources in ultra-deep water. Large investments in infrastructure will be required to bring these resources to market, so it will take years just to recover the initial investments. While we are accustomed to thinking of our industry as being built on long-term relationships, the rise in the percentage of projects with huge investments in facilities will increase the importance of maintaining good relationships. For relationships to withstand the tests of time, they must be win-win for all the stakeholders, not just those who sign the contracts.

In long-term relationships, many issues that are covered by the broad category of social responsibility will take on greater importance. Definitions of social responsibility vary, but generally embrace ethical business practices, community economic development, human rights, indigenous-population care, worker rights and benefits, and a broad range of environmental issues (including climate change, water management, waste disposal, and biodiversity). Social responsibility is an umbrella term that can be considered to encompass all of what we now classify as health, environment, and safety matters.

Public perception of how we perform on the broad portfolio of social-responsibility issues has a major impact on our industry’s image and plays a major role in maintaining our industry’s ability to operate. In comparison with other multinational industries, the public tends to rank the petroleum industry very low. Some oil and gas companies have placed a larger emphasis on social responsibility than others and indications are that the public recognizes the commitment these companies have made. However, when major problems erupt, the industry as a whole suffers.

Trade associations have taken the lead on social responsibility issues. The Intl. Assn. of Oil & Gas Producers (www.ogp.org.uk) and the Intl. Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Assn. (www.ipieca.org), both of which were founded in 1974, are notable examples. Their memberships include private and state-owned petroleum companies, oil and gas associations, and upstream service companies. While these trade associations are providing valuable services, I believe that individual-member organizations such as SPE can also make major contributions. We can leverage our access to our almost 70,000 members worldwide.

Just as for safety, where we have learned that knowledge and accountability are everyone’s business, the other social responsibility issues must not be viewed as primarily the responsibility of experts. With social responsibility issues, liability extends far beyond the confines of our company facilities. The issues that host communities consider most urgent vary widely. We need everyone to serve as a sentinel, alert to the potential opportunities and threats associated with social responsibility concerns.

All of us are both ambassadors and the first line of defense. Every one of us has a personal stake in improving the physical security of people working in our industry. A good offensive on social responsibility issues may provide the best approach to enhancing security for our personnel and facilities in the long term.

To increase SPE’s focus on the wide range of social responsibility issues, I asked the SPE Board of Directors to change the title of the Technical Director for Health, Safety, and Environment to Technical Director of Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility. It might be argued that Director of Social Responsibility says it all, making the other terms are redundant. However, many people are unfamiliar with what falls in the basket of social responsibility issues, so we thought it best to retain in the title explicit reference to the other key concerns.

I urge SPE sections and members worldwide to recognize that our technical scope encompasses education and discussion of all the social responsibility issues. Please consider organizing workshops or other discussions on some of these issues. Since these issues are of concern to line management, events on these topics may be a good way to re-engage our management, who may have drifted away from active participation in SPE. Consult with your management and invite them to speak on the issues they consider to be most important. Showing management the strength and value of SPE’s focus on technology transfer and education should increase support of the broad range of SPE activities.

At all times, we should recognize that wherever we go, we all represent many things—our industry, our company, our country, our technical discipline, and our professional societies. We are all accountable for social responsibility concerns. By our words and actions, we must demonstrate that not only do we provide the energy that powers modern society, but that we strive to fulfill that role in a long-term, socially responsible way.