Smaller Russian oil corporations oust energy giants from top of WWF environmental rating

Russia’s oil and gas companies have demonstrated distinctly higher transparency of ecological information, with minor firms taking lead positions in the annual ranking by the World Wildlife Fund Russia and energy consultant Creon.

“For the first time over the last seven years we are facing the unprecedented level of transparency of oil & gas companies in incidents and emergencies coverage,” the report reads.

The rating that has been published since 2014 rated eighteen Russian energy enterprises with annual output of more than two million tons.

This year, the rankings also includes fourteen corporations from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan producing 0.5 and 0.1 million tons of oil and gas a year.Russian state-controlled firm Zarubezhneft that works outside Russia won top billing, followed by the country’s biggest private energy firms Surgutneftegas and Lukoil. Privately-run Sakhalin Energy and Exxon Neftegas, a subsidiary of the US multinational ExxonMobil, made the top five.

The rating, based on an objective comparison and assessment of the companies’ environmental responsibility and management, was reportedly initiated to help consumers and banks give preference to the products of a particular company and to evaluate various corporate risks, including reputational ones.

According to WWF Russia, the major goal of the report was to promote the effective use of hydrocarbon resources, environmental protection and socially responsible business practices in Russia.

Russian state-controlled energy giant Gazprom has been marked for the biggest increment of information disclosure and transparency, according to the 2020 analysis. The company moved to the eighth position in the ranking, two spots up from last year.

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