Every year on 5th June, the global community celebrates World Environment Day. The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the date set by the UN General Assembly. Its main purpose is to raise awareness of the need for a responsible attitude towards the environment.

In Russia, this day coincides with the Ecologist’s Day, a professional holiday for all Russian nature protection specialists that was established by a decision of the President of the Russian Federation 15 years ago.

Responsible use of natural resources is one of Rosneft’s priorities in conducting its business. On an annual basis, the Company undertakes a range of activities and investment projects designed to improve the environmental performance of its operations, minimise its impact on the environment and contribute to biodiversity conservation.

Key components of the Company’s long-term environmental agenda are the “Rosneft 2030 Strategy: Reliable Energy and Global Energy Transition”, which the Company’s Board of Directors approved in late 2021, and the Environmental Vision 2035.

Reducing the carbon footprint is among the key priorities of the new strategy. The Company aspires to achieve net carbon neutrality for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2050. The Rosneft 2030 Strategy also outlines short- and medium-term goals for the climate agenda: to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2025; to reduce methane emissions to below 0.2%, to achieve zero routine flaring of associated gas and to reduce specific greenhouse gas emissions in the upstream segment to below 20 kg СО2/boe by 2030; to reduce absolute greenhouse gas emissions by more than 25% from 2020 by 2035.

The following are Rosneft’s environmental goals until 2035:

• to minimise the impact on the environment, particularly by introducing the best technologies available and consequently increasing the efficiency of waste management, land remediation, wastewater treatment and emissions;
• to introduce the principles of a circular economy;
• to protect and conserve ecosystems and biodiversity.

The Company’s comprehensive approach incorporates the development and use of technologies designed to lower the negative impact on the environment. One of the most effective proposals is the technology for associated petroleum gas (APG) utilisation at the Rybkinskaya group of fields implemented by Orenburgneft. In order to accomplish the task, the reserve capacities of the Vakhitovskaya gas compressor station and the Zagorskaya integrated APG treatment unit were used.

RN-Vankor allocated over 18 billion roubles for environmental protection measures in 2021, including construction of environmental facilities, Vankor gas programme activities, and projects for associated petroleum gas utilisation. The APG utilisation rate at the Vankor field is one of the highest in the industry, at over 99%. Bashneft allocated more than 6.5 billion roubles to environmental protection projects in 2021. The measures implemented have resulted in a total atmospheric air pollution reduction of 10%. The investments were earmarked for safe industrial waste management, land remediation, reforestation and fisheries replenishment projects.

In 2021, the Syzran Refinery, the Novokuibyshevsk Petrochemical Company and other enterprises commissioned versatile mobile environmental posts to monitor water and soil. Equipment at the mobile laboratory helps assess the quality of natural, waste, block-circulating water on the spot, take soil samples, and accurately determine a range of vital physicochemical properties of water and soil, such as pH value, electrical conductivity, the concentration of various compounds. The laboratory reports are sent to the state regulatory and supervisory authorities.

Rosneft focuses on reducing methane emissions, a greenhouse gas whose specific impact potential is tens of times greater than that of CO2. The Company’s subsidiaries use unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with laser scanners and video cameras to control methane emission sources and additionally implement ground-based monitoring methods. UAV monitoring is currently conducted at key production enterprises: Samaraneftegaz, Bashneft-Dobycha, Udmurtneft, RN-Nyaganneftegaz, RN-Uvatneftegaz, Tomskneft, RN-Krasnodarneftegaz, RN-Yuganskneftegaz, RN-Purneftegaz, Samotlorneftegaz and Orenburgneft.

Rosneft is systematically expanding production of Euro 6 fuel with enhanced environmental characteristics. The Ryazan refining company, the Saratov refinery and the Ufa group of refineries produced the Euro-6 gasoline with improved environmental and operational properties in the total amount of 1.46 million tonnes in 2021, which is 12% higher than in 2020. The production and sale of Euro 6 fuel has helped to almost halve the overall emissions of sulphur into the atmosphere.

Rosneft devotes special attention to activities on biodiversity conservation, in particular projects to study bio-indicators of ecosystems and unique fauna under threat of extinction. As part of the Ecology national project, the Company proceeds with projects to study, monitor and protect Arctic animals that are indicators of the region’s ecosystems (wild reindeer, polar bear, Atlantic walrus, and ivory gull).

Following up on the 2020 expedition to study the indicator species, spring and summer field studies of polar bear and walrus were conducted in 2021 on Alexandra Land (Franz Josef Archipelago), the Orange Islands and Cape Zhelaniya of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago. Route and aerial surveys of wild reindeer habitats in the valleys of the Kheta and Khatanga rivers were performed, and animal migration routes were studied in two municipal districts of Krasnoyarsk Territory. The Company plans to continue the field research as part of the Arctic biodiversity research and conservation project in the summer and autumn of 2022.

In 2021, the Company released more than 120 million fry in the Komi Republic, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar and Perm Territories, Murmansk, Tyumen and Samara Regions, the Republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan, and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District—Yugra, including the fry of particularly valuable Siberian sturgeon, Atlantic and Black Sea salmon, broad whitefish, whitefish and muksun, to preserve biodiversity and replenish aquatic bioresources.

Rosneft has traditionally paid special attention to reforestation, as the forest is a natural sink for greenhouse gases. The Company and its subsidiaries planted around 9.3 million tree seedlings of various species in 2021.

Another of the Company’s strategic priorities in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals is to minimise freshwater consumption. This is facilitated by the modernisation of infrastructure and the use of the best technologies available. In 2021, the Company continued to improve the quality of discharged wastewater through the construction and reconstruction of wastewater treatment facilities, in particular by bringing the reconstructed treatment plants up to design capacity and maintaining the efficiency of wastewater treatment at the existing facilities.

In developing Rosneft’s corporate culture, the Company continues to attach great importance to the responsible attitude of its employees and contractors towards the environment and ensuring environmental safety. These activities develop environmental awareness and involvement of employees and their families in environmental protection activities, including awareness-raising on responsible consumption of natural resources through appropriate environmental campaigns. The Company participates in large-scale campaigns such as Green Spring, Earth Hour, We Clean Up the World and others.

Rosneft
Information Division
6 June 2022 г.