Environment a top priority

It seems like the hydrocarbon sector has finally woken up and smelled the gas fumes, so to speak.

Companies like BHP Billiton, the National Gas Company (NGC) and British Gas, among others, have incorporated environmental policies into their corporate framework, evidence that the attitude of companies towards the environment has changed to suit the times. Head of Environment, Safety and Security at the National Gas Company of TT (NGC) James Trim, in an interview expressed the view that companies in the  hydrocarbon sector had begun to accept environmental performance as a business issue. This, he asserted, is a result of the emergence of what he called the “Triple Bottom Line”. Increasingly, Trim said, companies are accountable for their impact on the environments, noting that companies must learn to anticipate and respond to safety and environmental issues.

“In this shifting business context the significance of environmental issues is evolving,” he maintained. “NGC’s business activities, for example, must therefore create value that must be communicated to multiple internal and external stakeholders.” “By focusing on risk and resource management, our activities can produce operational and strategic value by reducing costs and enhancing revenues,” he said. Trim went on to state that  the ability to demonstrate a responsible environmental attitude can dramatically improve the image of a corporation, thereby fostering better relations with the company’s stakeholders. Adverse publicity about the organisation’s environmental performance is always highly damaging, he said. “The scope and impact of environmental legislation is ever increasing,” he said.
In September 1997, the Board of NGC approved a revised Corporate Environment and Safety Policy which Trim described as an expression of the company’s commitment to the environment and safety performance.

“It is our belief,” he maintained, “that a successful company conducts its business in a safe and environmentally responsible manner and that sustainable development is an organising principle that must inform the search for new business opportunities and define our success.”
Trim said that NGC’s policy included the conduct of business with minimum risk to employees, risk based analysis and prompt response to areas of latent failures and loss exposure, as well as the minimisation of the generation of waste and the prevention of pollution at source customers. Additionally, the company has put in place the necessary resources, including expertise, to manage its business. It conducts risk assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments on all significant projects. Communications Officer for British Gas TT Limited, Stacey Alfonso agreed that the attitude of companies in the hydrocarbon sector towards the environment had indeed improved dramatically over the years.

“Now,” she said, “there are oil spill response plans that involve oil production companies in TT.  British Gas possesses a Spill Contingency Plan that covers diesel spills from support vessels and any potential loss of containment of hydrocarbon based products on the platform.” In addition, energy companies are becoming ISO 14001 certified, which is an international environmental management certification. In 2000, British Gas became the first exploration and production company to attain such certification.

This covered all areas of operation including the PoS head office, the Logistics Base in Chaguaramas and the Dolphin platform on the East Coast. In January 2003, British Gas was re-certified for all previously certified areas of operations, and had its Hibiscus platform, which was installed on the north coast in 2001, certified for the first time. Director of External Affairs at BHP Billiton Petroleum, Dr Carla Noel, expressed the belief that the issue of spills or any aspect of environmental damage, was indeed a critical one and should be given the  utmost priority by any company. She said that the company had a “strict policy of zero environmental harm” which was reflected in continuous training and systems implemented throughout the company. “We are,” she maintained, “committed to working with all within the private and public sectors, and also to working with other petroleum companies to ensure zero environmental harm.”

At the recent Petroleum Conference and Exhibition hosted by the South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Geological Society of TT, Gary Aboud, Secretary of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, called on state bureaucrats and corporations alike to take responsibility for the lack of oil spill emergency preparedness in TT. “We recognise an increase in industrial and marine, as well as an increase in processing, exploration and transportation and we recognise the risk of spills and blow outs,” he stated. “Now,” Aboud went on, “the basic consideration is how to preserve the environment as we explore and extract”. “You, the stakeholder, the private sector, can pressure the government into putting in place coordinating mechanisms to respond in a timely manner to environmental emergencies,” he said, noting that the current situation is one which sees no fixed method of notification and response for oil spills

A person who has sited an oil spill is under no obligation to report the spill and there is no authority to which a report must be made. Reports, he noted, may go to environmental groups or to the media who do not possess the necessary means for assessment and remediation. Additionally there is a Draft National Oil Spill Contingency Plan which outlines a tiered response for oil spills, necessary remediation methods, areas of responsibility and outlines authority for each area. This has been in draft form for the past nine years, Aboud stated.