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Achieving our objectives: recognition

Tecpetrol has received the Gaia Award for Good Sustainability Practices Management from the Society of Petroleum Engineers of Ecuador. Ronald Manosalvas, one of the leaders spearheading the initiative, shares the key elements of a job that consistently puts people at the center.

Stewarding water use throughout our operations. Promoting energy efficiency in the field and in our offices. Supporting secondary school students through the Roberto Rocca Scholarships and respecting and promoting diversity and inclusion. These may seem like different objectives, but in fact, they’re all connected. Each one demonstrates our overall commitment to development. A commitment that, in addition to filling us with pride, has won us major recognition.

In Ecuador, the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) has just awarded us the Gaia award for good sustainability management practices. The accolade distinguishes efforts in the energy industry that prioritize the well-being of ecosystems, communities and people. To find out a little more about what lies behind this achievement, we spoke to Ronald Manosalvas, Health, Safety & Environmental Sr. Manager, who provides five keys to Tecpetrol's work in an area that is gaining prominence in the sector.

A high-achieving management approach.The award recognizes the measures taken by Tecpetrol to care for the well-being of ecosystems, communities and people.

Manage, listen and improve. Sustainability-related initiatives are based on rigorous regulations and nourished by the proposals made by our people. “We rely on a series of ISO management systems to guide us: 9001, which has to do with Quality; 14001, covering Environmental practices; and 45001 in the area of Occupational Health and Safety. This provides us with a solid platform from which to deploy procedures that are fine-tuned thanks to the input and ideas proposed by our joint committees, created to foster cooperation between management and workers. For instance, this is how a talk about recycling held a few weeks back came about, where we learned how to make rugs by reusing tires, or furniture out of cardboard packaging,” says Ronald, by way of example.

Healthy habits. The company donates equipment to medical centers in the parishes of Pacayacu and Dureno in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Additionally, it has organized ‘flu vaccination campaigns and promoted nutrition and physical activity initiatives. “We’ve also launched a statistics software program to help us track well-being at our operations. Our baseline is the pre-occupational health-check, and we also carry out periodic and annual examinations. The key is to detect potential pathologies and minimize occupational risks, such as exposure to noise and welding gases or fumes in the field.”

Permanent evolution. Ronald still remembers the pushback encountered decades ago, when quality management systems required people to do things differently at operations. But today, the situation is completely different. “Young professionals have another attitude. This is incredibly important when it comes to contributing to the care of our 'Common Home'. Energy companies can make a major positive impact on society, not only by complying with all environmental legislation but by raising awareness and supporting children with their studies, or promoting energy efficiency,” he explains.

On the podium.Ronald Manosalvas receives the distinction along with colleagues from the energy industry in Ecuador.

More diversity. If sustainability is an intrinsic part of what we do for our people and the communities where we operate, it’s equally important for management to guarantee that people of different genders, cultures and generations receive equal treatment. There Ronald recognizes the contribution made by a great internal ally: the +d program. “Although in the areas of Environment and Health there tend to be more women than men, the same doesn’t happen at a general level. However, this is changing in the industry, which is excellent, as our female engineers make a fantastic contribution to what we do.”

Safety first, always. Ronald concludes his tour of the company’s sustainability efforts with a metaphor inspired by one of his great hobbies: diving. “In diving, you talk about planning your dive with secondary objectives, such as: 'I'm going down to 30 meters.' Or 'I'm going to see sharks.' Or 'I'm going to swim along the sea floor.' The primary objective is never mentioned as it’s never up for discussion: that means coming back, safe and sound. It's the same here. Our priority is not to extract an 'X' number of barrels of oil from the wells, but to develop our projects safely, taking care of people’s health, safety and well-being."

Sustainability in Ecuador, in numbers:

Water management: 40% of water is reused in drilling activities.

Health: 56 pieces of medical equipment donated to health centers in the parishes of Pacayacu and Dureno.

Energy efficiency: 12% less electricity consumption in the field and 10% less in the Quito offices.

Quality education: more than 50 secondary school students and more than 20 from technical universities have benefited from scholarship programs.

Industry, innovation and infrastructure: 90% compliance in the monitoring of 64 Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) and Quality indicators.

Sustainable communities: 86% of the workhands come from local communities.

Responsible production and consumption: 17% less greenhouse gas emissions produced by our activities.

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