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Water risks pose a threat to important in building lasting relationships
many businesses, but the oil with local governments and populations.
“and gas sector is Repsol had this long-term vision in mind
when it worked with the United Nations Deve-
particularly exposed because lopment Program to carry out the Communi-
of its requirements for vast ties Benefit Plan (PBC) for indigenous people
amounts of water across of Colombia with limited access to potable
water. The agreement includes construction of
the value chain and the two micro-aqueducts and maintenance of four
geographical overlap between water reservoirs that benefit more than 1,600
people from 18 communities. Repsol also hel-
many of its operations and the ped local indigenous communities to develop
places where water is most the capacity to maintain 1,200 water wells and
scarce windmills.

To help mitigate those risks, leading oil and gas
companies take three kinds of actions. New opportunities in water
management
• Optimize water efficiency. In order to make
the best use of available water resources, oil Investing in water projects can help oil and
and gas companies will need to work with lo- gas companies deepen their partnerships with
cal partners to develop innovative solutions. NOCs, investors, NGOs and local communities.
For example, in 2015 Eni began to investigate In many cases, oil and gas companies are the
water consumption in the water-stressed Bhit only available players with the capabilities, the
and Badhra regions of Pakistan. Eni identified
areas for improvement in managing water, in-
cluding better management practice and new
infrastructure, along with the need to increa-
se awareness of the importance of water re-
sources among employees and local commu-
nities. The company also invested in the water
distribution network for civil and industrial usa-
ge, started the reuse of water from treatment
plants for irrigation and invested in plant im-
provements to make better use of water.

• Manage wastewater efficiently. Wastewa-
ter is also an asset, which companies can use
to reduce their demand for fresh water—which
in turn cuts costs and increases sustainability.
Leading companies protect local water supplies
and the environment from pollutants and con-
tamination by developing effective programs to
treat water used in their production processes.
Reusing water was part of BP’s plan to lower
consumption of fresh water at its refinery in
Kwinana, Western Australia. BP designed and
implemented a water minimization and reuse
plan for the refinery and, in partnership with
the government and other industrial players,
built a new water treatment plant at the refi-
nery with connections to the local water distri-
bution system. As a result, the refinery’s total
water use dropped 42%, and its potable wa-
ter use dropped by 93%, from 1996 to 2014.
• Fund remediation and sustainability
projects. Finally, leaders invest in a long-term
vision that aims to continuously improve wa-
ter quality and the access to water supply.
These programs aim to reduce or remove
any effects that oil and gas operations have
on water resources. These projects are also

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