Petro-Canada subscribes to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, committing to support and respect the protection of human rights within our sphere of influence and to not be complicit in human rights abuses.

Upholding our Principles for Responsible Investment and Operations is fundamental to meeting our human rights commitments. This includes operating with integrity and not participating in corrupt business practices, maintaining sound environmental standards and working diligently to prevent any risk to health and safety wherever we operate around the world. Our approach to managing our human rights commitments is to integrate specific human rights elements into our employee practices and policies, our community and stakeholder engagement practices and policies, and in the way we manage the security of our employees and our facilities.

2009 Plans

To date, Petro-Canada’s exposure to security situations with a high risk of human rights abuse has been limited. However, our business strategy has moved to becoming the operator of more of our international facilities. We are implementing more robust social risks assessment processes to better understand the social context in which we are operating and the effect that our presence has on the surrounding communities, in particular, the potential risk to human rights.

In Syria, we are moving forward with the Ebla gas development project, which includes seismic, drilling, and the construction and commissioning of a gas processing facility. Our priority has been to work with the contractors on this project, to identify any potential human rights risks that arise, particularly in the area of safety and workplace practices.

In Libya, our operations are managed through a joint venture with the Libya National Oil Corporation (NOC) called Harouge Oil Operations, in which Petro-Canada owns 50% interest. Under our newly ratified Exploration and Production Sharing Agreements, Petro-Canada is more actively involved in the planning and execution of Harouge activities. We continue to take a proactive role on the management committee in supporting both the sustainability and safety practices of the operation. Petro-Canada employees are seconded to work in the operation to directly support the safety practices on the site. We continue to focus on safety and extending our human rights expectations to the contractors that we engage.

In Trinidad and Tobago, we completed our eight-well exploration drilling program. Our key human rights risks were the safety and potential disruption of the livelihood of the local fishing community. Since the completion of the drilling, we have continued the safety training program with an emphasis on the use of global positioning systems for navigation.

We have a stakeholder framework and social risk assessment tool, which have been used to proactively and systematically identify and mitigate risks with respect to stakeholders and potential impacts. These tools are applicable to our global operations and tie into our Total Loss Management (TLM) program.

Link to Protecting Species Case Study
Link to Safety at Sea Case Study

Guidelines for Security and the Protection of Human Rights

Where we require security services to protect our employees and contractors, our intention is to have systems in place to safeguard human rights.

Operating in politically sensitive jurisdictions can create complex security risks. We must respect human rights and the rule of law in the way that we respond to and manage security risks. In 2005, Petro-Canada implemented corporate-wide Guidelines for Security and the Protection of Human Rights based on the Voluntary Principles of Human Rights and Security (United States/United Kingdom, 2001). The Guidelines are applied across the Company for the use of public or private security services, in either existing operations or entry into new countries. The Guidelines are incorporated into the security management and emergency preparedness element of the Company’s TLM standards. In 2007, the Guidelines were incorporated into a security management framework in our international operations.

We also recognize our obligation for safeguarding our employees, in light of potential security risks to their personal safety in some countries. We use independent country risk assessments to evaluate our risks and develop strategies. Employees, both in-country and visitors, can get immediate access to up-to-date information on all aspects of a region, including political and security-related news and advisories, as well as information on cultural sensitivities.

View our Security Guidelines For The Protection of Human Rights  (PDF, 6 pp., 50 KB)