Community Engagement and Partnership for Successful E&P Operations in Bolivia
Authors: Wilson Adam 
Published: October 2018

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper SPE 190652, “Community Engagement, Commitments, and Partnership for Successful E&P Operations in Bolivia,” by Eva Calvimontes and Sergio Eduardo Ayala SÁnchez, Vintage Petroleum Boliviana, and Krish Ravishankar, SPE, Occidental Petroleum, prepared for the 2018 SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility, Abu Dhabi, 16–18 April. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Relationships and engagement with communities in direct areas of influence is of paramount importance for successful exploration and production (E&P) operations. Since the beginning of operations in three major areas of Bolivia, a company has worked very closely with neighboring communities at all stages of design, planning, and implementation of projects and programs. The objective has always been the same: to improve the life quality of the society as a whole and be a partner with the communities.

Introduction

The company’s E&P operations are located in three areas of Bolivia—Naranjillos, Porvenir, and ñupuco fields (Fig. 1).

The business units in each of these areas have developed and implemented a social-responsibility program that supports company business objectives and positively affects people, communities, and the environment. A program has been developed that achieves a balance between the E&P interests of the company business and the communities’ expectations and needs. It is carried out through alliances between the company and the communities located inside the areas of influence.

Process

The company’s social-responsibility commitments and ongoing initiatives are categorized into the following five pillars:

Governance and Transparency—The company promotes effective corporate governance by implementing responsible policies and robust management systems to foster and reinforce business practices that are consistently sound, highly principled, and transparent.

Workforce Development—The company takes pride in employing a diverse and multicultural global workforce and is committed to maintaining a supportive and challenging work environment to prepare the next generation of leaders.

Health and Safety—The company aims to integrate programs and systems to mitigate incidents and reduce risks to employees, contractors, and the communities in which it operates.

Environmental Stewardship—The company strives to minimize its operational footprint, protect ecosystems, and implement conservation practices, making stewardship of the environment a responsibility of each member of the workforce.

Economic and Social Development—The company works to strengthen the economies where it operates by investing time and resources in programs and initiatives that develop the sustainability of local communities.

Following the core values of each of the five pillars and fully understanding the communities’ needs in the areas of influence, the company has developed and implemented the following steps as part of the stakeholder engagement and social-responsibility approval process:

Meeting with the community

Input from the community

Budget preparation

Budget approval

Project implementation