We conduct a big part of our business through joint ventures (JVs). Working with partners spreads costs and risks, gives us a stake in more projects, and, when our partners are national oil companies, helps us get access to resources. But when we do not control these joint ventures, we need to use our influence to encourage projects to operate responsibly – both environmentally and socially.
Joint ventures we control
In JVs we control, we have the right to decide how the company is managed, for example, because we hold a majority of the voting rights. These JVs are required to use the Shell Control Framework, which includes our Business Principles, Code of Conduct and company-wide standards, including our HSSE standards, or materially equivalent principles and standards.
Joint ventures we do not control
In JVs we do not control, we still expect the venture to have a set of business principles and an HSE commitment and policy equivalent to our own. However, we do not have the power to set the specific standards used. Instead, we encourage the JV to choose an operator that shares our values. We share best practice of managing safety, environmental and social issues, including creating positions dedicated to HSSE and social performance. We ask that an impact assessment be carried out before significant work on a project begins and that the JV maintains relationships with key external stakeholders.
If our requirements cannot be met within a reasonable time, we review the relationship. We last left a JV because of its incompatibility with our Business Principles in 2003. In line with standard industry practice, our public reporting focuses on companies and joint ventures where we have a controlling interest or where we are the operator, because we have direct accountability and are able to determine performance. In a few cases, we also include HSSE data from ventures we provide operational services to but do not control. Data from companies that were disposed of or acquired during the year are included only for the period that we had control. In some cases, data for companies where control changed hands during the year (for example Sakhalin Energy) are included for the entire year, as this is needed to allow consistent comparison of performance trends at company level.
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