Application of United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Exploration and Production Sector of Pakistan
Authors: Khan Muhammad Noman , Hameed Salman , Mushtaq Muhammad Asim 
Published: January 2024

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which seeks to establish global consensus for the next 15 years. The 17 Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs), Figure 1, aim to address some of the world's pressing economic, social and environmental challenges.

The relevance of each SDG to an Exploration and Production (E&P) company depends on a number of variables, including the location, size, duration, project stage and public policies governing the company's activities, as well as the company's position in the value chain, besides the company's commitment and available resources to invest in SDGs. Some SDGs might apply to a company globally, while others might only be relevant at the operational level, or to certain projects, or at certain stages of project's life cycle. Similarly, SDGs prioritized during the exploration stage could be different to those prioritized during the production stage.

The E& P Industry is already making significant efforts towards economic development, local content and capacity building, community engagement, health and safety, and environmental protection. Indeed, many companies have committed significant resources and efforts to advancing sustainable development as business practice. In doing so, they are not only advancing the aims of the SDGs, but also introducing standards and practices that, in some locations, go well beyond regulatory requirements. However, still there is much more that can and must be done.

In this paper, we have discussed the possible areas of efforts of E&P companies in these SDGs, with focus on three of the seventeen SDGs in particular, namely: Goal-3: Good Health and Well-being, Goal-4: Quality Education, Goal-6: Clean Water and Sanitation. With reference to these three SDGs, examples from one of the largest gas fields of Pakistan operated by a leading E&P company are discussed in detail, where the company has contributed significantly in various areas of the SDGs, even beyond the regulatory requirements.

For example, in the area of Goal-3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), the company not only operating an state of the art secondary support hospital under its supervision where its field employees as well as nearby local community cases are also entertained, but, in parallel, also providing extensive support to the local government for building, operating and running of a similar hospital in the nearby town. Similarly, a detailed discussion on the methodology of providing Quality Education (SDG-4) and Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG-6) to the community is also presented in the paper.

We understand that the presented data, details and methodologies related to SDGs, will not only explain and demonstrate that how such extraordinary efforts and contribution can be made toward the local community, in specific, and to the whole nation in general in such difficult environments and limitations, but can also set examples for other E&P companies to get motivation to support the country in implementing the 2030 Agenda of UN Sustainable Development.