Environmental Sustainability and Governance (ESG)—get used to this term. It will be much more important to the oil and gas industry for the years to come. For some of you, this may not be anything new, but ESG is not just another buzzword we need to get used to.
ESG needs to become a key component in our decision-making process. In the next few years, this topic will become part of quarterly reporting, or at least it should be. You see, the oil-and-gas industry has always been accused of not being environmentally friendly, and that sentiment has taken center-stage with lawsuits against the majors over climate change. We don’t expect this to change.
As an industry, it’s time we stand up and challenge the idea of not being environmentally friendly. Specifically, the Oilfield Water Management sector has a great environmental sustainability story to tell. So, let’s talk about how we do that.
Pipelines versus trucks. I think we all realize the growth of the Water Midstream, but what we may not be considering is the transition from truck to pipeline and what that means for environmental sustainability. We tend to focus on cost-savings because, ultimately, we are judged on profitability and return on investment (ROI). But as I mentioned earlier, we need to keep ESG under consideration, and this is where we are missing a great opportunity. (by Mark Patton, Hydrozonix)