A DYNAMIC SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT POLICY THROUGH CONCRETE AND MULTIPLE ACTION
The Maurel & Prom Group has succeeded in continuously providing solid instruments such as its Code of Conduct, its Charter and its constantly evolving HSE principles, to drive a dynamic and effective sustainable development policy.
There is no denying that the Group’s drive for methodical and continual progress in Health, Safety & Environment can have no real resonance or direction unless it respects and adheres to local requirements. The Group is thus committed to taking concrete development actions in every country where it intends to base its projects, case by case, depending on the needs and constraints that it finds.
Developing the local fabric and improving the living conditions of local people while it operates there, remains a real imperative for Maurel & Prom. This concern is refl ected concretely in every action plan in every country where the Group is based.
Concrete actions by Maurel & Prom: In the Congo, Colombia, Peru, Gabon Syria and Tanzania
CONGO
In the Congo, the Group completed many projects in 2009 in the health sector via the Congo Assistance Foundation with which the Group signed a partnership agreement in 2006.
This has allocated some €100 K in fi nancial aid to managing and operating maintenance works at the Marie Louise Poto Ndzembo health clinic, in the district of Loandjili in Pointe-Noire. This aid is set to be repeated in 2010.
With respect to the development of the local and economic fabric, Maurel & Prom Congo contributed to the development of municipal roads by providing public works machinery to the city of Pointe-Noire. The Group maintains its 10% stake in Banque Congolaise de l’Habitat in order to help develop home ownership among the Congolese people, in partnership with governmental authorities and the Banque.
In the health sector, the Group continues its fi ght against AIDS and malaria, in close cooperation with the Congolese Red Cross. Maurel & Prom has in particular helped purchase a mobile HIV screening unit. Raising awareness among local people means promoting information and prevention by organising publicity campaigns and seminars. We also pursue action planson site to implement sanitation programmes (for disinfection, disinsecting, rat extermination and snake control).
COLOMBIA and PERU
Having sold its subsidiary HOCOL, Maurel & Prom Colombia pursued and focused its sustainable development policy in 2009 via its Muisca et Sabanero licence in Colombia and its Lot 116 license in Peru. Over its entire area of more than 800,000 hectares, no environmental or social incident or confl ict has ever occurred.
• In Colombia: For its Muisca licence, the Group focused on publicising its projects by organising more than 30 informational meetings in partnership with various communities and local authorities. This willingness to integrate into local communities as part of a participative initiative was also refl ected in the recruitment of 250 manual workers and 150 expert local technicians. The Group has also supported education and training by funding the purchase of a school bus and providing computers for the municipal school of Cuitiva, and has supported the elderly by providing warm clothes at a site 3,000 metres above sea level.
With respect to the Sabanero license, acquiring and developing a 3D picture of 138 km2 of the eastern part of Llanos required ongoing and constructive dialogue with the indigenous Sikuani people, the main objective being to harmonise Maurel & Prom Colombia’s HSE policy with Sikuani culture. The education initiative launched by Maurel & Prom Colombia was a success with no accident at any time during the period.
From a social and environmental point of view, a map was developed jointly by Maurel & Prom Colombia and local communities to identify as precisely as possible its cultural and natural resource sites. This initiative was a key element in the project and once again allowed the Group to pursue its projects without incident while respecting the concerns and constraints of local communities and authorities.
• In Peru: The license for Lot 116 is in the north of Peru, in the middle of virgin forest, along the border with Ecuador. About 80% of the inhabitants are indigenous communities. Against a background of general instability and socio-political confl ict specifi c to the Peruvian Amazon, Maurel & Prom’s HSE department was able to produce a Social and Environmental Impact Assessment to establish an environmental study plan for drilling two exploration wells in the prospects of Putuime and Dominguza in Lot 116, the result of a joint strategy ratifi ed upstream and respectful of the two main indigenous peoples, the Inayuam and the Kashap.
SYRIA
In Syria, Maurel & Prom conducted a seismic survey over more than 900 kilometres without any accident and with no comment from local communities or administrative authorities about impact on environment, health or safety. Before each operational stage, Maurel & Prom conducted environmental studies, beyond those required by governmental authorities. The drilling of the “Draco-1” exploratory well was completed without incident, respecting standard industrial practices for the management and treatment of waste. Maurel & Prom excavated 15,000 cubic metres of trenches for its drilling operations and a water well intended for use by local communities. These projects were carried out in Syria respecting the culture of Syria and Islam as well as the customs of local communities.
TANZANIA
In Tanzania, the motto “any oil project, whatever it is, should include at least one action that is locally significant in benefi tting the population” remains more relevant than ever.
On Mafia Island, the Group has helped rehabilitate a dispensary not only by providing cement but also by maintaining roads by supplying civil engineering equipment. The Group also made available to local people the necessary logistics to transport equipment for schools and local authorities. The Group also chose to help build housing for the teachers of a remote school.
At its Mohoro and Mnazi Bay sites, Maurel & Prom helped renovate a school, provide offi ce materials, and maintain roads.
In 2010, Maurel & Prom aims to support oncology services for deprived children at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute Hospital in Dar Es Salaam.
GABON
One–off actions for an integrated and participative approach: creating a “Sustainable Development Service”
Created in March 2009, the objective of the Gabon subsidiary’s “Sustainable Development Service” is to implement the sustainable development policy defi ned by the Group. This Service, which began to function at the end of May 2009, has been a part of the Gabon subsidiary’s corporate policy for a long time. The priority action areas, determined by considering the immediate environment of the Group’s exploitation zones, are the South Lakes (Omoueyi), Mandji-Coucal (Coucal) and Banio (Nyanga-Mayombe).
From volunteer actions in 2007 and 2008, Maurel & Prom has now turned to an integrated and participative approach to helping communities.
It has supported local populations by drilling water wells and providing equipment for schools and fi shermen, the Group opting for an approach whose effects will benefi t communities into the future. The Group’s key 2009 objective was set out in a comprehensive and shared initiative that outlined a strategy and 3-year action plan for sustainable development for the South Lakes (Onal) and Mandji-Coucal.
Each region thereby has a framework for all the development projects that the Sustainable Development Service will support, to promote sustainable development among these populations. The objective was achieved in the South Lakes region, where most of the Group’s facilities are located.
At the same time and in partnership with local authorities, Maurel & Prom Gabon launched a three-stage awareness campaign aimed at local populations. Phase One consisted of preparing site condition reports and collecting people’s concerns, by local experts recruited for the purpose. Phase Two consisted of producing a “community assessment” that presents a picture of community resources and constraints. Phase Three involved synthesis work presented at a “Participative Planning” seminar bringing together all the stakeholders in order to optimise the actions to be taken as part of sustainable development in the South Lakes region (Moyen Ogooué Province). This Phase resulted in the preparation of a supporting document – the Strategy and Action Plan – and the implementation of a “joint committee for project planning, monitoring, coordination and evaluation”, not to mention cooperation with other oil operators as part of this project to “share sustainable-development efforts” in the Mandji-Coucal region (Ngounié Province).
We will be taking one-off measures in the Banio region (Nyanga Province) to rehabilitate the home of the Ndindi dispensary physician, and to provide day-to-day hospital consumables. With respect to supporting training and developing the fabric of the local economy, the Sustainable Development Service strategically supported the representatives of the group for the Onal and Mandj-Cancal region to integrate young people at the Maurel & Prom exploitation sites under the supervision general managers, thereby creating some 200 jobs.
In 2010, Maurel & Prom Gabon intends to continue helping local people by implementing a six-point action plan: Institute a framework for the management and operational coordination of projects; develop the skills of local organisations and community institutions; strengthen basic community infrastructures; carry out integrated and multisector microprojects; improve community and cooperative dynamics and promote a participative approach by calling on local, national and international partnerships.
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