Protecting the Environment

As a business dependent on natural resources, we recognise the importance and enhancing the environment through responsible operational procedures and preservation initiatives.

The most important resource we have at Shell is the people who work for us. Our position as an industry leader would not be sustainable without the daily commitment and expertise of dedicated, skilled staff. With the exception of a few highly specialised areas, where we benefit from the secondment of staff from Shell’s global business, we employ locally.

Our business also creates employment in the companies that provide support services to Shell. It is estimated that for every full-time equivalent we employ in New Zealand, over four additional jobs are generated, due to the multiplier economic effect. However Shell believes this number is significantly higher.

In the production of our retail, commercial, and industrial goods we monitor inputs to achieve optimal value from the resources used in, and obtained from, the process. As a result, the products we deliver to customers are not accompanied by an unnecessarily high opportunity cost.

Our extensive distribution network allows products to be supplied to customers throughout the country. As a growing population and economy place increasing demands on infrastructure, our network of strategically located service stations and truckstops provides accessible fuel at the best prices. Our network makes an important contribution to sustainable development by reducing road costs and travel time, creating genuine efficiencies for everyday consumers and commercial operators

Our approach is to protect the environment by taking steps in the design and operation of an asset to eliminate as much of the environmental impacts as practicable. Where emissions to the environment cannot be avoided, we work to mitigate them through appropriate action.

The natural resources required by Shell’s EP operations in Taranaki are water, energy and land access. All of our activities are governed by the conditions of resource consents, which specify permissible uses of local resources.

Regional councils throughout New Zealand are required to permit, limit and monitor the environmental impact of activities in their locality by issuing and supervising adherence to resource consents. We are careful to maintain compliance with all of its consent conditions in recognition of both our responsibility to regional authorities and a wider obligation to be good stewards of the environment.

Shell holds a total of 12 resource consents issued by the Taranaki Regional Council that govern the activities at our Maui and Kapuni production facilities. These permit and define the limits of various practices:

Consents allow us to discharge emissions into the air. All air emissions are monitored, measured each month and reported to the Shell Group on a quarterly basis to check that they meet Shell’s global standards. There is no continuous flaring of gases in our production operations.

Consents allow us to extract water, discharge treated storm water, and inject waste water into deep wells

Shell’s extensive retail network includes service stations owned by Shell New Zealand and stations operated by independent retailers. We place a strong emphasis on maintaining good relationships with independent operators, and develop our network-wide policies to achieve an optimal balance between the best fuel prices and quality service, thereby achieving our mutual goals of increased market share and profitability.

Our obligation to maintain environmentally responsible practices while remaining profitable requires rationalisation, a process by which all elements of infrastructure, including storage, refining, transport and operational resources are evaluated. Where the environmental impact of operating a facility is considered to outweigh its profitability we accordingly makes closures.

Shell undertakes a rigorous service station and commercial asset assessment programme to effectively manage the environmental impact of our network. Routine inspections check the condition and operational performance of storage tanks, underground storage facilities, and pipelines, with replacements or maintenance measures following if necessary.

Upholding performance standards across the network can have significant implications for individual service stations. Where fuel storage tanks are considered to pose an undue risk to the environment if they remain in the ground, they are removed and replaced. If the service station’s turnover is unable to sustain the capital outlay required to make a replacement it may need to close to prevent possible contamination.

We are committed to identifying ways of improving the environmental performance of day-to-day operations, either by changing processes or finding appropriate ways to deal with bi-products. An example of this is the disposal of waste oil from OP operations, some of which is sent to the cement manufacturer Holcim, where it is used for power generation in a process that applies emission minimising technology.