Annually on March 22, the World Day of Water is celebrated. Water is the most valuable natural resource, without which life on Earth would be impossible. The date was established by the United Nations in 1993 to raise the awareness of the world’s population to the global problem of access to safe water and the need for sustainable water use.

Rosneft has been a member of the UN Global Compact for more than 10 years. In 2018, the Company confirmed its commitment to 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Goals No. 6 Water and Sanitation, No. 12 Responsible Consumption and Production, No. 14 Life Below Water. To support the implementation of these goals, in 2020, the Company developed the Environmental Development Concept 2030, which included approaches to sustainable water use.

When conducting its activities, Rosneft and its subsidiaries are committed to sustainable water use in order to preserve the environment within the corporate footprint. To this end, the Company implements the Environmental Efficiency Improvement Programme, which provides for increasing the volume of recycled and reused water (over the past three years, the Company has kept this rate at the level of more than 93%), the environmentally friendly management of produced oilfield water (the average percentage of produced water re-injection is 93-94% for the period of 2018-2020) and the introduction of modern wastewater purification systems.

The Company also contributes to the achievement of the national objectives of the Russian Federation until 2030 in terms of the improvement of water bodies. Within the framework of the national Ecology Project, the Company has already completed or is at the implementation stage of several projects for the reconstruction/modernization of treatment facilities at the Company’s enterprises.

In the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim biological waste treatment plant--the largest in Eurasia, with a capacity of 84,000 cubic metres and using membrane bioreactor technology--has been commissioned and is successfully operating. The facilities have significantly improved the quality of wastewater purification and increased the use of purified water in the manufacturing process, which reduces the amount of water taken from water bodies by 2.5 times.

The Company’s enterprises are actively taking measures to reduce discharges into water bodies, as the treatment facilities at the Kuibyshev Refinery and the Syzran Refinery are being upgraded within the framework of the Stream Sanitation of the Volga River federal project. Due to the environmental projects implemented, Rosneft’s enterprises have increased the level of recycled water use in the production process, having reduced the intake from the Volga River by 6% in 3 years (by almost 25 million cubic metres). In addition, upgrades of treatment facilities at the Novokuibyshevsk Refinery, the Tuapse Refinery and the Komsomolsk Refinery are underway, as well as the construction of new treatment facilities at the Achinsk Refinery.

The Company assesses the level of water resources available in the regions where it is operating (the analysis tools of the Aqueduct project are used). The main regions of Rosneft’s presence are located in areas not experiencing a shortage of water, with the exception of a number of facilities located outside of Russia. Regardless of the water supply in a region, when implementing projects, the Company carries out a range of measures aimed at sustainable water use.

To preserve biodiversity and to replenish aquatic bioresources, in 2020, the Company carried out work to release more than 65 million fries brought up in fish farms into their natural habitat. The largest contribution to achieve high rates of fry releasing was made by Rosneft’s subsidiaries as follows: RN-Yuganskneftegaz (rivers of the Ob-Irtysh basin), Taas-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha (Vilyui Reservoir in Mirny District), the Syzran Refinery, the Kuibyshev Refinery, the Saratov Refinery, the Novokuibyshevsk Refinery and other Company’s enterprises (Volga River and rivers of the Volga basin).

In total, more than 60 subsidiaries of the Company took part in activities aimed at the reproduction of aquatic biological resources in order to preserve and increase the fish fauna in 2020.

Rosneft is one of the world’s oil and gas leaders, participating in the international rating in the Water Resources category under the CDP project. A total of 2,435 companies took part in the rating, including 109 oil and gas companies from 28 countries. The high-performance assessment demonstrates the efficiency of the water protection policy of the Company, which has never participated in the CDP Water Resources rating before.

Rosneft
Information Division
March 22, 2021

Keywords: Environmental News 2021