The newly acquired North American Oil Sands Corporation (NAOSC) began operations in north-eastern Alberta in winter 2005.
The company had a very simple, but important vision: "Be a good neighbour." This vision is also encompassed by StatoilHydro's own values and commitment to social responsibility in terms of achieving a mutually beneficial and respectful relationship between our business and society.
The company is currently developing the Kai Kos Dehseh Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) project in environmentally and socially sensitive areas in north-eastern Alberta, where many of our closest neighbours are first nation communities with deep historical and cultural ties to the land, water and environmental resources in the area.
Our continued success and licence to operate in Alberta is therefore largely conditional on our ability to address these needs and concerns in an appropriate and respectful manner.
Our policy is to respect the rights of indigenous peoples through collaborative dialogue and stringent impact assessment and mitigating activities, and we are committed to generating and promoting local content and spin-offs from our core operations.
Our involvement has therefore been based on the following key principles that strengthen our long-term position as a good neighbour and partner of choice in north-eastern Alberta:
- Employ as many local contractors, including "mom and pop operations", as possible
- Reduce adverse impacts on local wildlife (a 2006/2007 study identified the presence of moose, caribou and wolf populations in the area)
- Drawing on our stakeholder dialogue, balance traditional and contemporary forms of economic opportunity and development
- Support existing community programmes - including Meals on Wheels, first nation powwows and others
Working with community leaders (indigenous elders), employing community members, forming partnerships with local contractors and partnering with community schools has contributed to our initial success in the area.
In winter 2004/2005 we drilled 19 exploration wells. In the 2005/2006 winter season, 121 wells completed 254 kilometres of 2D seismic and 24 square kilometres of 3D seismic at a cost of USD 71 million (13 million spent locally). In the 2006/2007 winter season, 153 wells completed 618 kilometres of 2D seismic and 54 square kilometres of 3D seismic at a cost of USD 98 million (21 million spent locally).
We are committed to empowering communities by expanding career and training opportunities and encouraging participation.
We continue to work together to foster and sustain business partnerships.
Open, honest and transparent communication underscores these efforts, as is shown in our systematic documentation of our environmental and social performance in annual community and environmental reports .
