OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2010. Yuri Berg, Governor of the Orenburg Region, and Anatoly Tyomkin, TNK-BP Vice President, spoke today at the annual workshop conference “TNK-BP and Government: Effective Partnership between Business and State”. The Governor noted how much effort TNK-BP puts into supporting socially vulnerable sectors of society, protecting the environment and investment. For his part, Anatoly Tyomkin stressed the need to maintain a consistent and constructive dialogue with the regional authorities as a key factor in TNK-BP’s development, reported the press-centre of TNK-BP.

According to Berg, TNK-BP is the biggest taxpayer in the Orenburg region and conscientiously fulfills all its social obligations under the Cooperation Agreements. “Extraction of “black gold” has helped transform the city and to build numerous cultural and social facilities. TNK-BP supports companies based in the region as one of their major customers”, he stated. The Governor also highlighted the company’s achievements in utilizing associated gas, replacing pipelines, remediating land and addressing social issues in the region. He expressed confidence that the productive cooperation with the company would continue and help to resolve common problems.

Tyomkin in his speech spoke about TNK-BP, its development dynamics and future prospects, and proposed discussing further cooperation with the authorities on the basis of TNK-BP’s model of socially responsible business: “Ever since its creation, one of TNK-BP’s unchanging priorities has been consistent improvement of safety and environmental performance. We regard this as a key goal of business and one that directly impacts the company’s long-term success. In 2003, TNK-BP undertook to eliminate all the contamination it had inherited — over 5,000 hectares of land, of which 90% was in KhMAO and 10% in the south of Tyumen Region. To date, over 2,500 hectares have been remediated and returned to the state.”

According to Tyomkin, from 2004 to 2009 alone the company invested over 24 billion rubles in environmental activities (including upgrading of facilities). “Experience shows, however, that you can never stand still in this area. The more you do, the more difficult it is to get improvements, but this is the only way we can achieve one of our strategic goals — to become the safest and most environmentally friendly oil  and gas company in Russia”, he stated. 

TNK-BP rigorously observes the principles of socially responsible business. Since the company was created it has paid over USD100 billion (3 trillion rubles) in taxes at all levels. The anticipated tax payments for 2010 amount to 562 billion rubles – an amount that can be compared with federal expenditure programs such as national defence (678 billion rubles), education (386 billion rubles), health and sport (325 billion rubles) and culture (107 billion rubles). Of all the tax paid by the company in 2010 around 92% went to the federal budget. TNK-BP’s tax payments for 2010 are expected to provide around 7.5% of federal budget revenues.

On the subject of support for the regions, Tyomkin stated that in addition to its tax payments, TNK-BP plays an active role in community affairs and also grants discounts to agricultural producers.

The other participants in the workshop conference were members of the Government of Orenburg Region, representatives of the executive authorities in other regions of Russia where TNK-BP operates, deputies of the legislative assemblies and heads of municipalities. TNK-BP was also represented by Alexander Gorshkov, Vice President, Russian Government Relations, Alexander Grabovsky, TNK-BP Vice President and Director the company’s TNK-BP Orenburg Branch, and managers of subsidiaries.

These types of workshops for TNK-BP and regional leaders have now become a tradition. TNK-BP is a long-term strategic investor with an interest in further developing and deepening its partnerships with regional authorities and local communities. “I hope this workshop will help us to align our views more closely on all the key issues of long-term partnership” said Tyomkin in summary.