Our approach to water use

Handling water in a responsible and sustainable way is crucial to the future of Shell operations. We use water in our refineries, chemical plants and biomass operations. We have the potential to impact on water quality when we explore for and produce oil and gas. Recognition as a responsible operator helps us attract customers and highly qualified staff, and carefully safeguarding water helps us to build trust with regulators and key stakeholders.

Acknowledging risk

The public is increasingly concerned about the way water is handled. This can affect our bottom line in a number of ways: at the pump, in the financial markets and in the recruitment of highly qualified staff. The clearest risks from deteriorating water supplies and quality are water shortages, increases in the cost of water, the cost of needing to treat water prior to usage and the health of Shell people.

Building competitive advantage

We recognise the growing need for water management systems that focus on recycling and conservation. From our experiences around the world it is clear that much can be done by changing wasteful attitudes to water and finding innovative ways to reduce impact. We are adopting these attitudes and techniques to address the issue of water usage more systematically. In Australia, the Shell Clyde Refinery in New South Wales has become a partner in Sydney Water’s  Every Drop Counts programme, and is working to reduce water consumption and achieve savings. In Oman, we are experimenting with reed bed technology to clean contaminated water, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a reduction in wastewater has generated significant savings in capital investment and operational costs.

The combination of relevant skills and experience within Shell is surprising, if not unique: geophysical expertise; reservoir engineering; producing, moving, separating, chemically treating, purifying and distributing bulk fluids; and doing business in culturally diverse countries with different levels of regulation. This range of skills and experience enables us to be competitive by developing innovative technologies and partnerships that mitigate risk and cost.

Informed by Shell principles and facilitated by the experience within Shell, there are various ways to consider how to approach water, depending on the skills available and on local environmental and social issues.