Mixed fortunes for oil and gas majors

The Tomorrow’s Value Rating of the 10 largest oil and gas companies has revealed that many of them are displaying advanced practices in managing their most pressing social and environmental issues. However, the sector as a whole still faces major challenges, and the three state-owned companies in the list trail woefully.

Researched and produced by Two Tomorrows, the Tomorrow’s Value Rating assesses companies on how well they manage their most pressing social and environmental issues.

BP tops this latest application of the Rating to the oil and gas sector, followed by Shell and ExxonMobil. According to the study, BP recognises its responsibilities and openly discusses the sustainability challenges it faces.

The Rating finds that most of the seven publicly traded companies assessed have recognised the key material issues for the sector. These include climate change, bribery and corruption, health and safety, environmental performance and community development.

However, while they are talking about the key sustainability issues and have systems that allow them to make incremental progress, most of them are failing to provide solutions that meet stakeholder expectations.

Todd Cort, CEO of Two Tomorrows North America Inc., who led the research, says: “Performance on energy security and climate change has evolved, but progress remains incremental and the associated fundamental challenges remain unsolved.

“The first company to demonstrate a tangible step-change in addressing these issues is bound to emerge as the new sustainability leader in the industry.”

Meanwhile, the state-owned companies, while they are to varying degrees open about their environmental performance, do not disclose any information at all on how they address the socio-economic impacts of petroleum exploration, refining and delivery.

The companies assessed in this Tomorrow’s Value Rating were the 10 largest oil and gas companies according to the Fortune Global 500 list, which ranks the world’s largest companies by revenue.

Results of the Tomorrow's Value Rating of the oil and gas sector