- OKEA

OKEA is an independent exploration and production (E&P) company and a mid- to late-life operator on the Norwegian continental shelf. As part of our strategy, we will maintain a clear, credible, and consistent approach to ESG.

ESG is embedded in our business and all operational activities. We aim to ensure safe and responsible operations while creating long-term value for the company’s shareholders, minimising our impact on the natural environment, and maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance and business ethics.

Through our operations and activities, we actively support and use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a reference point when defining our priorities. We believe that we must focus on the SDGs to make a concrete impact. These are SDG 5 – Gender Equality, SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG 13 – Climate Action.

The company’s ESG approach is centred around six key commitment areas where we set relevant goals, targets and KPIs for our activities and performance:

Committed to our people

OKEA believes that engaged people, collaborating to reach our goals in an open and inclusive environment are key to the company’s success.

Our employees are our most important resource. We give priority to enable engagement and believe empowered and competent employees collaborating to reach company goals, strategy and vision is key to success.

We value the unique contributions of our employees and believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce emphasises deliveries and accomplishments.

Safety first

The values we share influence how we behave and collaborate and is the foundation for our «we culture» – where safety is always a first priority.

Preventing harm to people’s health and to the environment is a responsibility we take seriously. We work actively to ensure safe working conditions to prevent harmful effects from physical and psychological influences.

To ensure that we identify, understand, and manage health and safety risks in our offshore and onshore activities, we have implemented an extensive occupational health and safety management system. This management system covers all workers and assets, including contractors working on operated assets. In addition, we have implemented the Life-Saving Rules from the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP), acknowledged as industry-wide best practice in pro-active HSSE efforts. 

Read more about the “9 Life-Saving Rules” here:
https://livreddenderegler.no/
https://www.iogp.org/life-savingrules/

Security and cyber security

The security and protection of our people, assets, information, and reputation are the cornerstones of our business. We work continuously to anticipate, prevent, and respond to internal and external security threats to minimise consequences to company personnel, facilities, and our operations.

People, diversity, and competence

People, diversity, and competence are key factors in executing our overall business and sustainability policy.

We prioritise engagement and believe empowered and competent employees collaborating to reach company goals, strategy and vision is the key to success. We value the unique contributions of our employees and believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce drives deliveries and accomplishments.

OKEA recognises the rights to freedom of expression, association and organisation, trade union rights, privacy, and collective bargaining, and will strive to safeguard these throughout our business.

We commit to treating all people with respect, to working against discrimination in all its forms and to be an inclusive organisation, which respects individual characteristics such as gender, age, sexual orientation, nationality, religious and political beliefs.

We are stepping up our efforts to attract, engage, develop, and retain a diverse workforce of professional individuals in a collaborative and transparent working environment.

Committed to our stakeholders

OKEA is committed to engage with its stakeholders and to foster good relations based on fairness and transparency. We ensure compliance with legal requirements and regulations and see to that people in our organisation are treated fairly and respect human rights.

OKEA will pursue a proactive dialogue with stakeholders and promote the establishment of long-term cooperation. In order to achieve our goals, it is vital to apply a high ethical standard and create trust-based relationships with our stakeholders.

Committed to our partners

OKEA works actively to identify and mitigate risks in the supply chain, while working with suppliers to identify and utilise financial and technical opportunities our partnerships create.

OKEA values close cooperation between our skilled employees and our key suppliers. This collaboration is crucial for continuously improving our operations and delivering value to our stakeholders.

Together with our stakeholders and partners we work to find mutual benefits and sustainable solutions to common challenges.

Committed to sustainable development

OKEA has identified the potential to reduce adverse environmental impacts through increased efforts on energy management, both in our operation, exploration, supply chain and administrative activities.

We are committed to minimising emissions from our operations – to sea and air – by taking advantage of the opportunities that exist or can be created while at the same time recognising the challenges, we as an operator of mid- to late-life assets on the Norwegian continental shelf may have.

OKEA is committed to working with relevant parties to ensure that we participate in relevant technological development in an appropriate manner to help achieve our goals.

Climate change

OKEA acknowledges the substantial challenge posed by global climate change and our responsibility to contribute to the solution. In 2021, we have established an updated decarbonisation strategy of our operated assets in production. The strategy outlines the company’s ambitions to support the GHG emissions reduction target of 50 % in 2030 set by the industry. Continuing to deliver on the short- and mid-term ambitions will be key to achieving emissions reduction aligned with these targets.

Committed to the environment

OKEA considers the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems as a fundamental component of sustainable development and maintains a transparent dialogue with stakeholders and relevant scientific institutions.

We are committed to the precautionary principle and seek to understand, avoid, and respond to any potential impacts our activities may have on biodiversity and ecosystem services.

We aim to reduce the disturbance to nature as far as possible, and to minimise any adverse effects on biodiversity and the ecosystem from our activities.

OKEA will strive to respect and protect water and ocean resources and to minimise water and ocean impact and aims to minimise disposal volumes and impacts to surface and groundwater sources.

OKEA aims to reduce the amount of waste generated from our operations and supply chain and are also starting to engage a circular economy approach.

Committed to our communities

OKEA is committed to contribute to the communities where we operate and strengthen local business. We work actively to recruit our workforce from the regions where we are based.

We carry out our business and corporate activities in a transparent, honest, and fair way, in good faith, and in full compliance with competition protection rules.

OKEA is committed to respecting human rights of local communities and individuals in our own operations, and expects its business partners to respect these rights regarding the activities assigned to or carried out with them.

OKEA will continuously engage with, and monitor feedback from, the local communities in which we operate to ensure that the company’s activities are consistent with our ESG goals.

Local value creation

We support and invest in community projects that align with local needs and our business activities and have prioritised goals that relate to economic development and education.

We pay particular attention to creating long-lasting industrial ripple effects and local value by providing opportunities for local suppliers wherever possible.

Research and development

While the aim of the technology research and development (R&D) process is to improve OKEA’s value creation in the short-, medium- and long-term, our strategy and efforts to provide advanced technical solutions demonstrates OKEA’s intent to reduce environmental impacts, creating benefits for socio-economic development.

We support several R&D projects in the oil & gas industry to improve technology, efficiency and reduce emissions. We prioritise working with the skilled local research community in Trondheim such as NTNU and Sintef.