Communicating with Communities: the First Step

For E&Ps looking to gather their footing in the Polish shale gas sector, one would think that most of their efforts revolved around exploratory drilling.

But as Jim Johnston, Board Member, ExxonMobil, and Director of Exploration and Production in Poland explained to delegates at the European Unconventional Gas Forum in Krakow, Poland, without a communications plan, hydrocarbons enterprises are putting the cart before the horse.

Mr. Johnston’s talk was entitled Shale Gas in Poland: Stakeholder Communications.

Of ExxonMobil’s activities in Poland, he reported, “We spend most of our time now externally with our communities, because that’s where we have to get it right because we can’t succeed on a larger scale if we don’t.”

One of the venues for engaging with communities, he said, was schools.

“Lots of villages are in fairly close to our operations. Schools are a focal point for these communities, a good place for disseminating information. We bring in an engineer, a public affairs advisor to speak to people. We show how the technology relates to what we’re doing, show them equipment. We get lots of positive feedback from the students,” said Johnston.

He said ExxonMobil sought to explain “Why are we doing it that way?”

“It gets around quite quickly in the villages and the towns,” he said of such events, “providing a public discourse.”

 Townhall meetings, Johnston said, typically comprised presentations and Q&As.

The value, according to him, was to give the members of the community enough time to discuss things. “Sit down, step back and listen to the conversation of 15-20 people talking together. We have learned a lot about what we need to know about that specific community which has its own specific concerns.”

He added: “We’re willing to sit there for hours even if we’re only scheduled for an hour and a half.”

 Engaging the media was another crucial aspect he emphasized.

“There’s almost a daily stream of commentary in the media,” noted Johnston, “ranging from enthusiastic optimism to outright condemnation. There are valid concerns that need to be addressed, but also misinformation.”

He offered a number of strategies for dealing with those issues, spoke about Exxon-Mobil’s activities in Poland and what the company was trying to communicate there.

He pledged to present a couple of the key challenges and to show how a good communications plan could help in meeting those.

Mr. Johnston noted that with ExxonMobil’s acquisition of XTO it became the single largest natural gas producer in North America. He said, “We acquired six exploration licenses in Poland,  concessions in the Lublin and Podlasie basins. We have core acreage in two out of the country’s three most prospective shale gas basins.”

He showed the location of the company’s two wells, explaining that both had been drilled and completed safely, the last in April of this year, and the company was now in the process of evaluating the results, which would determine ExxonMobil’s future activities in Poland.

Mention was given to partners Total and Hutton Energy. Mr. Johnston said ExxonMobil still retained a 51% interest and operatorship of both of those concessions in both cases.

“We appreciate the cooperation from the authorities and communities in Poland, helping exploration operations in a very smooth fashion,” he added. “Having a communications strategy was a very big part of getting that support.”

Then, he said he would speak about some of the more important criteria of that strategy.

“Safety is paramount, uncompromising,” said Johnston. “ExxonMobil won’t do it if we can’t do it safely. This extends to the members of the community.”

In terms of environmental points, he gave mention to water issues.

“We have designed our wells and completed them so that they will not impact the groundwater,” he explained. “We also try to minimize the use of water and recycle it where we can. We’re also conducting environmental and social impact assessments (ESIAs) for each of the operations were engaging in. Part of these is conducting baseline surveys on the soil and water, to make sure we’ve had no adverse impacts on the environment.”

Regarding transparency, he said it was important to communicate openly with the public to allay any fears. Johnston reported: “We’re divulging the chemical components of our fracking fluid. It’s an important part of our work here.”

Then, he showed a communications model for communications in Europe.

“It’s a cycle that doesn’t stop, and is used throughout the effective life of the project. It starts by identifying stakeholders, when we should engage them and how we should do that,” he said. “We listen to their concerns.”

Mr. Johnston explained that as important as each step was, putting them in the wrong order could be counterproductive.

“Even for a well thought out project, if you show what you want to do it may have nothing to do with what’s on your stakeholders’ minds.”

He continued, “Modify your plan and ask them what they think about it – this affects how we go about our work. It makes it easier for us to do it.”

Not having to truck in your water from 50km away could be one example, according to him.

He noted the formation of the Polish Exploration and Production Industry Organization, comprised of conventional and unconventional E&Ps, explaining, “It allows us to speak with one voice on issues with government. It makes it easier for them to listen to the opinions out of that organization. We draw on the expertise of all the members. That’s going to become more and more important as concerns continue to arise,” he said.

According to Mr. Johnston, as discussion continued in Europe over shale gas, what people were really after was information that they could use in the public discourse.

“We try to provide it through websites,” he explained of ExxonMobil, “through an ExxonMobil unconventional website, which has information on hydraulic fracturing, and we try to keep it updated with the issues that are out there. From the feedback and hit rates we think we’re providing valuable information.”

He continued, “From our experience, globally ExxonMobil is convinced it can develop shale gas without threats to the environment or public health. We want to work with environmental officials and regulators to minimize adverse impacts.”

Johnston reiterated the need to have an effective communications strategy.

“We’re drilling exploratory wells and seeing encouraging signs,” he reported. “If we’re fortunate enough to enter a development phase where we could be drilling hundreds of wells, we’re going to have to go back in and communicate with those communities.”

Exiting a shale gas project, he said, was as important as how an E&P got there in the first place.