DRILLING INTO ISSUES
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Amid national calls for change, oil industry does some soul-searching.
The oil and natural gas industry is at a moment of reflection.
On top of struggling to adapt to crude prices hovering under $40 a barrel and keeping its workforce safe from the coronavirus pandemic, the industry is doing some soul searching on diversity and inclusion.
The May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, sparked national and international protests — and the oil and natural gas industry was not immune to the calls for social change.
Civil rights leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, wrote letters to the industry trade group Interstate Natural Gas Association of America asking for a meeting to discuss the hiring of more women and minorities.
The population of the United States is 60 percent white, 18 percent Hispanic, 13 percent black, 6 percent Asian and 3 percent other, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. But employment in the oil and natural gas industry does not reflect that.
Of the 1.1 million people that work for the industry in the United States, about 75 percent are white and male, data from the Energy Futures Initiative and National Association of State Energy Officials show.
The industry has some catching up to do on race and gender, but the issue is already on the radar of some executives.
In the days after Floyd’s death, Lorenzo Simonelli, the Italianborn CEO of Baker Hughes, wrote a public letter stating that the Houston-based oil-field services company “will not tolerate discrimination anywhere, without exception.”
Employing more than 67,000 people in 120 nations around the world, Baker Hughes has a multiethnic and multilingual workforce that Simonelli said values care and collaboration.
“We must do our part as a community and a company to stand together against this injustice, not only in the U.S. but around the world,” Simonelli said.
Parsley Energy Matt Gallagher also wrote in a public letter that the Austin oil company is “identifying local nonprofits that will support social equality and justice.”
“Everyone must do their part,” Gallagher said. “It starts with each person being responsible for his or her own actions, but it cannot end there. Don’t allow intolerance even if you are a casual observer.”
Katie Mehnert, CEO of the Houston-based industry socialmedia platform Pink Petro, also wrote a public letter calling for change.
“Race, energy and our environment are at a tipping point,” Mehnert said. “To create change, we have to reexamine our own views and actions and must push aside the desire to be comfortable and to return to ‘business as usual.’ To the Black community — we see you and we hear you. You matter and your lives matter.”
But diversity and inclusion go beyond race.
The industry still has hurdles when it comes to gender and LGBT issues.
Sara Saidman, a woman who once worked as a field engineer for oil-field services giant Schlumberger, sued her former employer for a $100 million, claiming that she was forced to share sleeping quarters with a male coworker who allegedly told others it would be OK for them to break into her bedroom and sexually assault her. Saidman alleged that the company does not protect women in the field and routinely dismisses sexual harassment claims as “just oil field talk” or “a joke.”
Company officials declined to comment, saying they have not been served with the lawsuit.
Houston liquefied natural gas company Cheniere Energy recently debuted a rainbow modified company logo in observance of Pride Month, an annual celebration to commemorate the June 1969 Stonewall Riots that sparked the gay rights movement in the United States.
Cheniere's pride logo, however, is the exception rather than rule. Observers believe the rainbowcolored logo is a first in the oil and natural gas industry, one that has a reputation of being blue collar and conservative.
Rice University anthropology professor Brian Riedel, an expert on LGBTQ issues, said “virtue signaling” with a rainbow logo is easy to do on social media but that actions speak louder than words.
"Don't pinkwash yourself with a logo, actually take the time to relate to your employees and customers with the dignity they deserve," Riedel said.