OREANDA-NEWS. November 8, 2012. Application of international standardization in the sphere of SRSD management is becoming a day-to-day practice of the leading corporations. In Kazakhstan such standards are enforced by the companies seeking an international or country IPO, and national companies, including those of the oil and gas sector.

JSC NC "KazMunayGas" takes up an active position on the introduction of the newest approaches to forming modern standards in the SRSD management into the practices of the oil and gas companies of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Under the project, the following tasks are being carried out in Kazakhstan for the first time: building a centralized integrated system for management of SRSD of the national oil and gas holding company, systemic introduction of international standards into SRSD management, preparation of non-financial reporting, audit, organizing the process of development of competence of the national staff as per the requirements of the international standards.

The stages of benchmarking of SRSD management of the world's 14 oil and gas companies have been completed, a wide range of the media environment researches and a sociological survey on evaluation of JSC NC KMG's social policy by the key stakeholders are being conducted, the format of the research "Localization of the forecast social map (FSM) for the regions of production presence of JSC NC KMG" is being put to an evaluation test.

Lyazzat Kiinov, Chairman of Management Board, JSC NC "KazMunayGas": "We are convinced that consistent introduction of the sustainable development and corporate social responsibility principles renders the day-to-day business practices more efficient, contributes to open and understandable liaison with the stakeholders, ensures transparency in respect of shareholders and investors.

Even today we apply certain formats of international standards in social responsibility in the practices of our companies. In the group of companies we have the experience of introducing the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) international reporting system, simplifying representation and analysis of the information on the matters of environment, occupational safety, labour conditions and the company's activities in the sphere of social responsibility. Meanwhile, the company joined the requirements of the UN Global Compact as early as in 2006.

Applying the principles of the Global Compact, we are successfully implementing the companies programs on increasing the shares of national content, staff training, environmental protection, development of the presence regions, corporate social programmes and many other initiatives.

Time zips along. The system of international standards in the sphere of social responsibility and sustainable development is actively developing. New versions of the standards appear, new developments emerge, which are actively introduced into the international corporate practices. Our strategy is to keep abreast of this dynamic process, gain the dominant position in Kazakhstan's oil and gas industry in the practices of applying the newest developments in the sphere of improvement of social corporate responsibility management.

We recognize that this project is a large-scale one. The development, restructuring and introduction will take us more than just one year. The company and our SRSD specialists are faced with an interesting challenge, and they are ready to tackle it.

Within the context of the Presidential Programme "Social Modernization of Kazakhstan: Twenty Steps towards the Society of Universal Labour", we would like to reiterate that social responsibility is the strategic priority of the KazMunayGas group of companies. This is why the principal objective of the project is development and introduction of a centralized integrated management system based on the modern international standards. As a consequence of such resolutions, Kazakh oil and gas companies will become more competitive on a global scale".

Under the project, the plans are to introduce the annual system for monitoring the economic and socio-political situation in the regions of JSC NC KMG's operations, formation and adjustment of the corporate communications strategy on liaising with the stakeholders.

Maira Salykova, President of the Central Asia Systemic Research Foundation: "Expert opinions and the results of our research show that the SRSD management practices in the biggest Kazakhstan companies are inferior in quality and systemic nature of the management in such directions as production practices and financial management. For example, such processes as evaluation of intangible assets, management of non-financial risks, social project planning, non-financial reporting mechanism, non-financial reporting audit, SRSD management standards, reputation audit, regular monitoring of the social-and-economic situation in the locations of the companies' production presence, interdepartmental interaction and integration, communication interactions with the stakeholders in most cases do not meet the modern requirements.

Today, the SRSD international standardization landscape is developing and forming before our very eyes. There are not so many experts and specialists on design and implementation of such solutions in the world. And the most important thing is that it will take us certain time to bring the specialists responsible for the SRSD matters to the appropriate level of professional qualifications.

KMG's project for introduction of a centralized integrated management system based on the modern international standards is the first project of such scale in Kazakhstan's SRSD management practices.

If we look at the international practices, this way is chosen only by the world's oil and gas majors. This is why JSC NC KMG's striving for the leadership in the matters of improving the quality of corporate governance in SRSD in Kazakhstan is understandable.

Representatives of non-profit organizations, Kazakh and foreign experts, leaders and key personnel of the JSC NC KMG group of companies in the sphere of human resources management, public relations management, health, safety and environmental protection, and social projects management participate in the project.

The initiators of the project are confident that the results and practices of implementing this unique multi-level project will influence development of new approaches to SRSD management in the national companies of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

JSC National Company KazMunayGas is Kazakhstan’s national operator for exploration, production, refining and transportation of hydrocarbons. 100 percent of the shares of JSC NC “KazMunayGas” are owned by JSC Sovereign Wealth Fund "Samruk-Kazyna”.