We take our role as a responsible corporate citizen seriously.
Petro-Canada is committed to developing its resources responsibly, especially through these challenging and changing times. We made good progress on many of last year’s commitments, which you will read about further in this report. This year, we continue to work at advancing our track record of responsible development. I want to take this opportunity to explain why I believe Petro-Canada has the strength to deliver on its principles and commitments.
How strong was Petro-Canada’s safety performance in 2008?
Safety is Petro-Canada’s top priority. In 2008, our safety performance improved over the previous year, with both employee and contractor injuries decreasing. While we made good progress, I continue to believe that we can reach our Zero-Harm goal. That is why, in 2009, we are continuing to work on contractor safety, process safety and front-line supervisor capability to lead our teams safely.
Why did environmental exceedances increase in 2008? How do you plan to improve your performance?
The increase in 2008 environmental exceedances was disappointing, and was generally due to unusual operations such as new facility startups. However, this is unacceptable to me and the results reversed a five-year downward trend in exceedances. Senior management and executives have conveyed to their staff that we must do better. We have placed a high priority focus on getting back to a point where we see the number of exceedances decrease every year, with a particular emphasis on minimizing exceedances during unusual operations.
How is the economic slowdown affecting Petro-Canada’s support for community partnerships?
While these are challenging times, we remain committed to our initiatives across our community partnership focus areas, and we continue to demonstrate support for some new partnerships, such as our active participation in the Calgary Homeless Foundation’s Project Homeless Connect.
Learn more about our community partnerships support:
In March 2009, Petro-Canada announced its intention to merge with Suncor Energy. How will the proposed merger impact corporate responsibility?
Leading up to the merger proposal between Petro-Canada and Suncor, one of the criteria we looked at was corporate culture. The two companies have complementary cultures and leading environmental and social responsibility practices. We have agreed to this merger partly because both companies place strong emphasis on similar values like our commitment to community, the safety of our workers and being environmentally responsible. All these values will feature prominently in the merged organization. Together, Petro-Canada and Suncor will become a bigger company with the ability to have an even larger positive impact.
How does the merger affect Petro-Canada’s sponsorship of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games?
Petro-Canada is proud and excited to be a partner to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The merger will not impact Petro-Canada’s sponsorship. We will move forward with all of our commitments as planned, and the merged company will continue to implement Olympic programs and promotions through the Petro-Canada retail network.
How is Petro-Canada helping employees understand and adjust to the proposed merger?
Our commitment to employees is to provide honest and frequent communications that keep people updated as the merger process develops. An internal blog entitled “The Water Cooler” has been a great tool for employees to pose questions and receive answers as well as receive regular updates from senior management. In addition, although we intend to make staffing decisions as quickly as possible to minimize uncertainty for our people, we also need to take the time to get it right. Our affected employees and contractors will be treated fairly, and we will work to minimize the impact on them in ways consistent with our values.
What is your perspective on the debate between energy development and environmental impact, particularly related to the oil sands?
We recognize both energy development and environmental protection are integral to our success. The oil sands, in particular, play a big role in our future. This supply source makes up a significant portion of global energy supply from non state-controlled countries, but it also presents environmental challenges. We’re committed to working with industry, government, regulators and technical experts to respond to these challenges, address stakeholder concerns and work toward minimizing our environmental impact. We’ve already made some progress here, and I believe we can continue to develop this world class resource in a way that meets society’s expectations.
What is Petro-Canada’s position on climate change and evolving regulations?
Climate change is a complex issue requiring integrated solutions that balance the three E’s: energy, the environment and the economy. Through our Climate Change Executive Steering Committee and Climate Change Working Group, we have created a strategy to balance the needs of the environment, economic interests and the energy needs of our customers. The strategy is based on four pillars: sound business principles, technology solutions, capability development and reputation management. We realize there is much more to do, but know that worthwhile sustainable changes take time to implement properly.
What are your key corporate responsibility priorities for 2009?
Safety remains Petro-Canada’s top priority. While we are diligently working toward our goal of Zero-Harm, we are also stepping up our efforts to reduce permit exceedances in our operations and restore our track record of continued performance improvement. Finally, we’ll continue to reduce our environmental footprint in the oil sands, both operationally and in new facility designs.
We take our role as a responsible corporate citizen seriously. We have a solid plan, the financial resources and a great team to help us reach our goals. I am confident that Petro-Canada has the strength to deliver.
Ron Brenneman
President and Chief Executive Officer, Petro-Canada