Re-Engaging With Local Stakeholders in the Mature Oil and Gas Mahakam Block on Kalimantan Island, Indonesia

摘要

Since the nineteen seventies, TOTAL E&P INDONESIE (TEPI) operates a block in the Mahakam River delta, where it coexists with local communities that live in a traditional way and get their livelihoods from agriculture and marine activities such as shrimp farming. For ten years, the relationship with these communities has become more and more intense, occasionally leading to conflicts and reaching a peak where TEPI neighbors are getting unsatisfied with the company and have increasing societal expectations. Consequently, the societal strategy was in dire need of an update, to improve TEPI’s relationship with its stakeholders and ensure undisturbed operations. To achieve this goal, TEPI used SRM+, a corporate tool by which the company compares its perception of the societal context in which it operates with that of its external stakeholders, with a view to better adapting its societal strategy. Usually used at subsidiary level, the innovation here was that it was adjusted to the operational needs. In the Mahakam block, operations are divided into 3 assets, which cover several sites and have a dedicated management. Therefore, four SRM+ surveys were conducted: one on each of the assets and one at Province level to listen to higher level stakeholders. Internally, the survey consisted in workshops gathering around 50 people from societal and operations teams, in order to jointly identify the societal risks and to map the stakeholders. Externally, 45 stakeholders were interviewed, 27 at assets level and 18 at the level of East Kalimantan province. The result was the delivery of a uniquely shaped action plan, made of 4 different plans: one common and one for each asset. Each of these plans aimed at answering local stakeholder’s expectations, which vary from one asset to another. The global action plan targeted general actions to improve impact management, redirect the community development strategy towards needs of local communities, while improving the quality of relationships with stakeholders. Whilst this project strengthened ties between societal and operations teams, and triggered an opening of sites to local communities, it also enabled TEPI to improve its societal management practices and, most importantly, to better understand its neighbors.