Together with its partners, BHP Billiton is producing gas from the Zamzama gas fields in Sindh, reducing Pakistan's reliance on expensive fuel imports and helping to fuel the country's economy.
Phase-1 of the development was completed in 2003, ahead of schedule and under budget. Alongside the operations, the company is working with local government, communities and NGOs to implement a sustainable programme of community development projects.
BHP Billiton is the world's largest diversified resources company. It operates in some 20 countries and has its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia.
The Group also has a significant corporate presence in London, Johannesburg and Houston. BHP Billiton was formed in June 2001 through a merger between BHP Limited and Billiton Plc.
Petroleum is one of the main businesses of BHP Billiton. We are a significant oil and gas exploration and production company, with major producing assets in Australia, the United Kingdom, the Gulf of Mexico, Pakistan, and Algeria.
Our Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC) policy states clearly that, our ultimate goal is zero harm to people and the environment.
Our performance is therefore driven by the commitment to continuous improvement. We also aim to contribute to the welfare of our staff and the communities in which we live and work.
PAKISTAN ASSET: BHP Billiton commenced its operations in Pakistan after conducting an exploration review of the Indus Basin in 1994, indicating it as a prospective region for gas exploration close to existing pipeline infrastructure.
In February 1995, Petroleum was awarded operating interests in the Dadu Concession area of Sindh.
Subsequently, in 1998, a successful exploratory well was drilled leading to the discovery of the Zamzama gas field, BHP Billiton Pakistan's first commercial production in Pakistan.
Joint venture partners in this ownership are Government of Pakistan, Premier Kufpec Petroleum Exploration Limited and ENI Pakistan.
The Zamzama gas field covers an area of around 120 square kilometre's and ranks fourth in terms of Pakistan's discovered resources.
The field is situated in the Sindh province, approximately 300 kilometre's north of Karachi.
Currently, the field contributes approximately 15% of Pakistan's total daily gas production, thus reducing the requirement for expensive fuel imports.
In April 2000, Zamzama Joint Venture signed an agreement with the Government of Pakistan and the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) with the aim of supplying a minimum 70 million cubic feet per day (MMSCFD) of gas.
In April 2002 approval for full field development was announced, following the signing of separate Gas Sales and Purchase Agreements with the Government of Pakistan, the SSGC and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL).
As part of the full field development, the Zamzama Phase-1 project was completed in mid 2003, four months ahead of schedule and under-budget increasing the gas processing capacity by four times, enabling the supply of upto 320 MMSCFD to the two gas transmission/distribution companies - SSGC and SNGPL.
In addition to the gas production, some 2,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of condensate is also produced from the Zamzama facilities, and this is sold to local refineries.
The current Zamzama gas production facilities include a total of five production wells, some 16km of gas gathering flow lines, 18km of sales gas pipelines, and three process trains of gas dehydration, hydrocarbon dew point control, condensate stabilisation and handling and sales gas compression.
Separate gas metering facilities are also provided for gas supplies to SSGC and SNGPL. . In near future, a 40km long dedicated condensate export pipeline will be installed to directly inject Zamzama condensate into the crude oil pipeline of the Pak Arab Refinery Co Limited (PARCO).
The total estimated proven plus probable reserves for the Zamzama field is estimated to be 2.2 tcf of gas (gross), of which BHP Billiton's equity share is around 850 bcf.
One key aspect of BHP Billiton's Zamzama development has been to utilise local capabilities wherever possible and encourage local participation.
Some 3,275 local workers worked at the Zamzama site during the peak of construction activities, with about 40% of them coming from the local area representing significant employment opportunities for the communities living around the plant site.
On average, about 1,000 local workers were employed at Zamzama plant site over the total construction period of 6 months for the EWT project.
This was followed by employing on average about 2,000 local workers at the plant site over the total construction period of 14 months for the Phase-1 project. A significant proportion of the major plant equipment was also built in local fabrication yards.
It is estimated that the total Pakistani content stands at about 34% of the budget for the Zamzama gas processing plant and associated facilities.
At present, approximately 51 staff members are employed by BHP Billiton. In addition we have engaged services of approximately 115 people who are supporting different function of Zamzama gas fields hired through contracting professional services and on daily wages.
As a part of our commitment to providing employment to locals, we have hired more then 100 people from Sindh province and specifically from Dadu district.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: BHP Billiton is committed to sustainable community development wherever it operates.
The main purpose of the BHP Billiton Pakistan Community Development Programme is to facilitate the empowerment process for the poor and the most vulnerable people living in areas where it operates, through social mobilisation and providing access to the basic infrastructure, so that they can improve the quality of their lives.
BHP Billiton Pakistan works with the local communities inhabiting areas near its operations to contribute to their social infrastructure needs through the development and use of appropriate skills and technologies.
It seeks to form partnerships with the local communities and build relationships based on honesty, mutual trust and openness.
BHP Billiton Pakistan works with the regional and local government, community groups and other organisations to ensure that local communities benefit from its activities, both in the short and long-term.
Issues related to health, safety, environment and community development form an integral part of the way BHP Billiton conducts its business.
To fulfill the mission envisaged by BHP Billiton, the company spends approximately 1% of its pre-tax profits (calculated on a three-year rolling average) on Community Development Programmes (CDP), wherever it operates.
Dadu district is in Sindh province. Total population of district Dadu is around 0.51 million people and consists of about 25 union councils.
The rural economy of the area largely depends on agriculture. There is high unemployment and little basic infrastructure. Access to basic facilities like education and health are limited.
The CDP seeks to address these issues by empowering the poor and vulnerable people of the area through establishing just social structures at the grass root level, provision of health, encouraging development of livelihood opportunities and support safe health and environment programmes.
So far, around sixty different villages have benefited from the CDP. More than hundred locals are supported financially by BHP Billiton to work on behalf of partner NGOs.
These local partners make sure that projects financed by the company are fully implemented and are providing maximum benefit to local communities.
Provision of Quality Education: Education is one of the key components of the CDP. The company is facilitating the provision of physical infrastructure for primary and middle level schools and the introduction of child friendly teaching techniques.
BHP Billiton, in collaboration with local non-government organisations, has established 11 primary community schools in the area.
To date more than 1100 boys and girls are acquiring knowledge from these institutions.
These schools have been registered with the local education department in order to incorporate them with the formal education network.
Training has been provided to the local schoolteachers in classroom pedagogy, community mobilisation and school-based management to ensure future sustainability of the programme.
They are encouraged to use proactive teaching techniques to make learning fun and innovative for both the students and teachers.
Efforts are also made to make the parents realise the importance of education for both their sons and daughters.
To create a sense of community ownership for the education programme, a participatory education approach has been adopted whereby communities are encouraged to be part of school management.
For this purpose, School Management Committees (SMCs) have been set up to provide locals with a platform to raise their concerns and give suggestions.
So far five SMCs have been developed to meet on a monthly or quarterly basis.
HEALTHCARE: The programme, amongst other things, emphasises training of community health workers who not only ensure provision of curative measures for prevailing diseases but also work on prevention through raising awareness on health and better hygiene conditions.
BHP Billiton, in collaboration with partner NGOs selected the most remote and marginalized areas of Dadu for the establishment of health centres.
At present, five health centres are fully functional.
BHP Billiton is providing financial and technical assistance to these health centres with the following partner NGOs; Village Shadabad Welfare Organisation (VSA), Child Development Organisation (CDO) and Johi Organisation for Rural Development & Natural Disaster (JORDON).
The centres are providing basic health facilities to about 89 villages and catering to a population of over 35,000.
All five centres are equipped with an outpatient department, basic family planning and maternity services and disease outbreak management programme. Medicines are available at a subsidised rate.
Health education is an essential part of the overall programme. BHP Billiton will be facilitating a training programme for fifty lady workers under the "Lady Health Worker Programme" in collaboration with the provincial government.
Ten health seminars have been conducted in the past year to create awareness for health and hygiene.
In an attempt to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates, the health programme has been specifically designed to cater to the needs of local women and children.
BHP Billiton health centres are fully equipped to deal with anti-natal, neo-natal and post natal issues.
Lady Health Workers are present in every health centre so that women can easily communicate their problems.
These LHWs raise awareness of the importance of family planning and encourage local women to visit health centres for routine check-up during pregnancy.
BHP Billiton Pakistan Health programme also works in close co-ordination with Dadu District Hospital and Taluka Johi Hospital to strengthen their institutional capacity and upgrade the health facilities present there.
Basic Physical Amenities: To address the dire need for provision of basic amenities in Johi area, BHP Billiton Pakistan designed a programme to provide both social and physical amenities to the local communities.
The former component tries to educate locals on issues of education, health and environment, whilst the latter addresses some of the immediate physical infrastructure needs such as provision of water supply schemes and development of public recreational parks.
Lack of clean water in majority of villages is a common feature for Johi. The river water is too scant to meet all irrigation and drinking needs of the local communities. A large part of women's time is spent on fetching water from distant areas.
To cater to this problem, BHP Billiton Pakistan launched a water supply scheme to immediately curb water paucity and water hygiene problem.
A Reverse Osmosis Unit has been installed in Mitho Khan Lashari Village where a cluster of six villages and over 1800 people are benefiting from this valuable facility.
SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS: High levels of unemployment in Dadu district have led to social unrest and economic instability.
BHP Billiton Pakistan attempts to create a supportive and cohesive social environment through local institutional building and aims to facilitate the process of involving people in decisions affecting their lives.
Enterprise development, especially for women, is currently the main area of intervention.
A Learning and Information Centre has been established by BHP Billiton in partnership with CDO that aims to develop basic computer skills of local students and build their capacity in learning English language.
The centre has not only enhanced the confidence of the students but has also improved their chances of seeking better employment opportunities. At present about 50 students are enrolled at the centre.
The lack of economic opportunities available in the area has confined the role of women within the household.
To encourage women to take part in entrepreneur-ship development, the CDP has established a vocational centre called "Sartiyoon Silai Karhai Markaz" in Johi.
The main objective of the centre is to encourage women to learn skills like embroidery, sewing and tailoring so that they are able to utilise these skills in income generation.
This in turn would lead to their socio-economic empowerment.
To further expand activities of this centre BHP Billiton has signed a partnership agreement with the Canadian International Development Agency's programme for the Advance of Gender Equality.
The objective is to contribute to sustaining a community development process through improved livelihood for local women by providing them with opportunities for income generation and training in production and marketing.
WELFARE PROJECTS & DONATIONS: With regards to community welfare work, BHP Billiton Pakistan Asset facilitated provision of free seeds to last year's flood affected families in Taluka Johi.
Medical camps were aided by the company and organised by our partner organisations to deal with flood-affected patients. Besides this, BHP Billiton Pakistan has also aided other public and private organisations in the form of donations.
BHP Billiton Pakistan CDP, since its onset has made efforts to involve local communities during planning, implementation and monitoring process of any project undertaken in order to build a sense of community ownership.
Adequate sharing with all concerned stakeholders will continue to enable them to fully understand the notion of participatory development.
During the coming year, more and more marginalized communities will be included in our development projects.
Most importantly, BHP Billiton Pakistan will continue its commitment to achieve sustainable development in area of its operations.
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