Our ESG

Environmental, Social, and
Governance (ESG) Report

OPC’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policy outlines our measured environmental impact, social outreach, and governance strategy. We understand the material risk posed by the impact of every changing climate change on the environment and thus have sought to support clients through the energy transition. It has been a pleasure to work on a number of these projects including ‘Carbon Capture and Storage’ and greenhouse gas inventorying.

We will continue to invest in strategically aligning OPC’s business interests with the demands of the market by supporting our clients to decarbonise their operations and improve their outlook by accurately disclosing their environmental performance and measuring climate related risk.

We understand that as an industry we must successfully minimise our environmental impact and make disclosures that demonstrate to stakeholders that we are actively managing a wider range of risks. Environmental impact is no longer an optional requirement in our industry, it is now critical for the license to operate oil and gas assets and as such a business’s environmental, social and governance strategy should take core prerogative in all company decision making.

Whilst this initial ESG policy is limited in scope, in the future OPC may consider adopting a petroleum industry recognised standard of disclosure such as TCFD to align our reporting procedures to that of the industry where appropriate.

1. Environmental

OPC believe that we have a responsibility to care for and protect the environment in which we operate. We are fully committed to improving environmental performance across all of our business activities and will encourage our business partners to join us in this effort. OPC recognises our key impacts to be in the areas of:

• Energy use;
• Waste generation;
• Water use;
• Transport; and
• Procurement.

We will strive to:

• Adopt the highest environmental standards in all areas of operation, meeting and exceeding all relevant legislative requirements.
• Record, account, and minimise our scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions.
• Assess our organisational activities and identify areas where we can minimise impacts.
• Minimise waste through careful and efficient use of all materials and energy.
• Purchase sustainable products wherever feasible [e.g. recycled, FSC or low environmental impact products and energy from renewable sources].
• Publicise our environmental position.

• Train employees in good environmental practice and encourage employee involvement in environmental action.
• Reduce risks from environmental, health or safety hazards for employees and others in the vicinity of our operations.
• Adopt an environmentally sound transport strategy.
• Aim to include environmental and ethical considerations in investment decisions where appropriate.
• Assist in developing solutions to environmental problems.
• Continually assess the environmental impact of all our operations.

1.1 Scope 1 & 2 Emissions

The reporting period for this initial report is 08/20 – 08/21 and as such due to the unprecedented global pandemic associated emissions are greatly reduced. OPC’s scope 1 & 2 emissions (see below diagram) come directly from its office spaces and does not own or operate any vehicles. OPC has offices in London, Aberdeen, Qatar, Dubai, Houston, Stavanger, and in Kazakhstan. OPC’s offices are managed differently depending on the pre-existing commercial arrangement with the landlord which limits OPC’s ability to collect pertinent data regarding our energy use and environmental impact. OPC’s main office in London is supplied by renewable energy provider Bulb Energy which provides 100% renewable energy and thus has a minimal carbon footprint.

The only other source of emisisons identified relate to the use of air conditioning units’ refrigerant leaks which due to the use and size is estimated as negligible. For OPC’s Aberdeen office electricity is included as a part of the commercial package and therefore it is difficult to estimate our electricity usage. This is the same for all offices outside of the UK. As a part of our updated ESG reporting OPC has requested that this information be provided by our commercial partners and as such anticipate it will be included in the next iteration of this report in 2022.

2. Social

OPC’s philosophy is to give to those who most need it when they need it and sadly 2020 has provided plenty of opportunities to do this. As a part of our annual giving to charity, OPC staff elected to donate company funds to Centrepoint, a charity that provides housing and support for young people regionally in London, Manchester, Yorkshire and the North East and through partnerships all over the UK. Other charitable activities have included OPC staff charity cycle ride to Windsor to raise money for Metro charity (Max Richards, right, pictured).

OPC is fully committed to providing a good and harmonious working environment that offers equal treatment and equal opportunities for all employees and where every employee is treated with respect and dignity. The Company’s aim is that remuneration, recruitment, promotion and retention should not be affected by irrelevant considerations and stereotyping. OPC recognises that the provision of equal opportunities in the workplace is not only good management practice, it also makes sound business sense. Whilst the Company recognises that the overall responsibility for the effective operation of this policy lies with the Board of Directors, all employees, whatever their position within the Company, have some measure of responsibility for ensuring its effective implementation in their day to day activities and working relationships with colleagues.

OPC Proudly Sponsors Arlans Football Team

OPC proudly sponsors the Arlans (Wolves) football team in Astana’s youth city Championship! We aim to support their participation in Astana’s Youth City Championship while promoting the values of teamwork, sportsmanship, and community engagement. We believe in the potential of these talented young athletes and their ability to inspire others. Click the button below to see more.

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3. Governance

OPC is an employee owned and led business which follows quality managment procedures to ensure we continuously meet and exceed expectations of excellent governance including ISO 9001 certification. Employee wellbeing and our wider impact on stakeholders is of core importance to OPC and its 34 years of doing business and excellent reputation is testament to that. It is OPC’s intention that these requirements will be met Right First Time, On Time, Every Time as a result of a commitment to a Total Quality approach. To achieve this, OPC operates with written policies, objectives and procedures complying to BS EN ISO 9001, and ensures that all personnel are conversant with these, and are involved in a culture of continuous improvement.

All personnel have job descriptions, and the management job descriptions are reviewed as part of the Quality System Review to ensure that all activities are adequately managed, and that interfaces and communication routes are understood. The Quality System of OPC is formally reviewed and minuted by Directors and Managers to ensure that it continues to meet the requirements of the company and its customers. The Risk Register is reviewed at the same meeting. A series of performance indicators, including the results of both internal and external audits, customer complaints, and employee and customer feedback on services provided, will be reviewed against the ongoing objectives to ensure that the company is responding to both internal and external trends and conditions, and that adequate resources are allocated to planned activities.

It is the policy of OPC to maintain the effectiveness of its control systems by conducting formal audits of all activities at defined intervals. These audits are used by the management as an indication of the effectiveness of the controls operating in the Company. These audits are carried out by a fully qualified external auditor with the assistance off the Senior Accountant.

OPC is dedicated to the training and competency of its personnel, in both technical skills and control systems. It considers that the control of quality by operational personnel is the most effective way of controlling the quality of the services it provides. It believes that this requires a positive training and competency programme which builds on existing education, training and competency and experience. The training and competency records of personnel are used in the selection of personnel for specific work.

3.1 Suppliers and contractors

We work in close partnership with our main contractors and suppliers supporting both projects and operations to drive improvements in environmental and safety performance.

3.2 Energy Transition Recognition

In recognition of the need to support the drive to Net Zero, at the beginning of 2021, OPC appointed an Energy Transition Lead as a new position and a full-time member of the OPC Staff. Their role is to identify commercial opportunities to support OPC’s existing and new clients in areas that contribute to the drive to Net Zero. Specifically, the areas identified are:

1. Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS).
2. Geothermal energy
3. Greenhouse gas inventorying and decarbonisation
4. ESG strategy development and implementation