Abstract
Over the last decade oil and gas companies have placed increasing emphasis on building partnerships and integrating stakeholder concerns into the overall project management cycle. Also, international lenders now place greater emphasis on social impact planning and mitigation of potentially adverse effects as conditions for project funding. Social Performance is increasingly on the agenda in Oil/Gas companies and has a strong business case for action. Activities of the Oil and Gas industry gives rise to impacts that change the social environment including affecting the economies in which they are conducted. We need to understand social issues relevant to the industry and know how to address them in an efficient, timely and pro-active manner.
In 1997, OGP published a report entitled "Principles for Impact Assessment: The Environmental and Social Dimension". This report set out principles for the environmental and social dimension of impact assessment for exploration and production projects, emphasizing integration of social assessment. It was intended for oil and gas companies and their contractors, and it highlights to them the importance of social and environmental assessment in all aspects of project planning and implementation. The document was subsequently endorsed by IPIECA. The document was also viewed as a stepping-stone to a more comprehensive guidance document for industry practitioners.
A joint OGP-IPIECA Social and Environment task force developed and published in October 2002 a document entitled ‘Key questions in managing social issues in oil and gas projects’. This joint OGP and IPIECA report was the next step in the process to a comprehensive guidance document. The report is not designed as a manual for conducting Social Impact Assessment, nor is it strictly a guideline. We hope that by using the document, member companies will identify the benefits and shortcomings of the approach and will make these known to OGP and IPIECA.
The paper provides a context to the list of questions, describes external interactions related to management of social issues, describes the social issues relevant to project stages and components, and summaries the scope of the lists of questions.
