To the stakeholders of Statoil ASA
Scope and limitations of our Engagement
We have been engaged by the corporate executive committee of Statoil ASA (“the Company”) to perform an independent assurance of the chapter in the Statoil Annual and Sustainability Report 2009 titled “Sustainable performance” (“the Report”) including the health, safety and environment (HSE) accounting, as presented in the section “HSE accounting” and in the sub-sections "HSE performance indicators" and "Environmental data", in its online and downloadable pdf format.
The scope of our assurance engagement extends only to the content of the Report as determined by the Company, subject to the limitations the Company defines in the chapter “Defining the content of our reporting”.
The content of the Report that is within the scope of our procedures is marked with a label that confirms it has been subject to assurance by Ernst & Young. Our scope only includes the content of other parts of the Annual and Sustainability Report 2009 to the extent that they are referenced to from within the “Sustainable performance” chapter and excludes all content referred to from external sources.
Our assurance procedures did not include assessing the implementation of or compliance with the Company’s policies.
Criteria
As a basis for the HSE assurance engagement, we have used Statoil’s internal reporting criteria specifically developed for HSE, as described in the section “HSE accounting”.
For the sustainability assurance engagement, we have used the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI G3) as criteria, as well as the AA1000 AccountAbility Principles Standard (2008) in relation to the principles of Inclusivity, Materiality and Responsiveness. We consider these reporting criteria to be relevant and appropriate as a basis for the assurance report.
Assurance team and independence
Our assurance team includes environmental and social assurance specialists from our global environment and sustainability network, which undertakes similar engagements to this with a number of significant international businesses. As auditors to Statoil, Ernst & Young are required to comply with the independence requirements set out in the Norwegian legislation and relevant ethical codes.
The management’s responsibility
It is Statoil’s management responsibility to properly aggregate the data and prepare the chapter “Sustainable performance” including the health, safety and environment (HSE) accounting, as presented in the section “HSE accounting” and in the sub-sections "HSE performance indicators" and "Environmental data". They are also responsible for selecting the information, collecting the data for and determining the presentation of the Report. The choices made by the management, the scope of the report and the reporting principles, including the inherent specific limitations that might affect the reliability of the information are explained by Statoil’s management in the Annual and Sustainability report’s section “About the report” and “Defining the content of our reporting”.
The auditor’s responsibility
It is our responsibility to express a conclusion on the Report for 2009 based on our limited assurance procedures and form an opinion on Statoil’s 2009 HSE accounting on the basis of our assurance procedures outlined above.
Assurance standards used and level of assurance
We have performed the assurance engagements for the HSE accounting and the sustainability reporting in accordance with ISAE 3000, “Assurance engagements other than audits or reviews of historical financial information”. The standard requires that we plan and execute procedures in order to obtain the following assurance levels:
- Reasonable assurance that the information in the section “HSE accounting” including the aggregation of the data in the sub-sections "HSE performance indicators" and "Environmental data" is, in all material respects, properly aggregated and an accurate and adequate representation of Statoil’s HSE performance during 2009.
- Limited assurance that the other information in the Report is, in all material respects, in accordance with the GRI G3 guidelines and an application level of A+ is fairly stated. Our evidence gathering procedures have been designed to obtain a limited level of assurance (as set out in ISAE 3000 and in compliance with a Type 2 assurance engagement under the AA1000AS (2008)) on which to base our conclusions. The extent of evidence-gathering procedures performed is less than that of a reasonable assurance engagement and therefore a lower level of assurance is provided.
Limited Assurance procedures for the Report
Our assurance of the Report has been planned and performed in accordance with ISAE 3000 and the AA1000 Assurance Standard. The standards require that we plan and execute procedures in order to obtain limited assurance on the Report. The assurance procedures took place between October 2009 and March 2010.
Our assurance of the Report has involved the following activities:
- Interviews with a selection of Statoil’s senior and site management as well as visits to three entities, to gain an understanding of their approach to managing sustainability issues that are covered in the Report.
- In-depth evaluation of the Gender equality and the Local contracts and procurement contents of the Report, including data quality and compilation for this year’s report.
- Obtaining and considering evidence to support the assertions and claims made in the Report, using a risk based approach.
- Evaluation of the overall balance and consistency of the information in the Report.
- Evaluation of Statoil’s processes for adherence to the AA1000 AccountAbility Principles including observation of a stakeholder meeting, review of minutes of stakeholder meetings and interviews with selection of key personnel.
- High-level benchmarking of Statoil’s reporting compared to selected industry peers.
- Media research in relation to press articles about the company and its activities throughout the calendar year.
Assurance procedures for the HSE accounting
Our assurance of the HSE accounting is performed in accordance with the ISAE 3000. The standard requires that we plan and execute procedures in order to obtain reasonable assurance that the HSE accounting as a whole is free of material misstatement. Our work has included:
- Discussions with the corporate management on the content and aggregation of the HSE accounting.
- Site visits including interviews for selected entities, chosen based on an evaluation of the entity’s nature and significance, as well as general and specific risks. Testing of underlying data, on a sample basis, to evaluate whether HSE data are reported, registered and classified according to Statoil’s criteria and in line with recognized standards and methods.
- Review of whether systems used for registering, aggregating and reporting are satisfactory, and the collection of data and presentation of results is consistent and complete.
- An overall analysis of the figures compared with earlier reporting periods.
We have also evaluated the HSE data’s reliability, and whether the HSE performance is presented in an appropriate manner. Our objective has been to investigate:
- The acceptability and consistency of the reporting principles.
- The reliability of the historical information presented in the HSE accounting section of the Report.
- The completeness of the information and the sufficiency of the presentations.
We believe that our procedures provide an appropriate basis to conclude with a reasonable level of assurance for Statoil’s HSE accounting.
Observations and recommendations
To assist Statoil’s continuous improvement of its sustainability reporting, Ernst & Young provides recommendations in a more detailed report to Statoil’s management.
Conclusions concerning adherence to the AA1000 AccountAbility Principles
Inclusivity – Has Statoil been engaging with stakeholders across the business to further develop its approach to sustainability?
- Nothing has come to our attention that would cause us to believe that Statoil has not applied the Inclusivity principle in developing its approach to sustainability.
Materiality – Has Statoil provided a balanced representation of material issues concerning Statoil’s social, environmental and economic sustainability strategies and performance?
- Nothing has come to our attention that management has not applied its process, as described in the chapter “Defining the content of our reporting”, for determining material issues and that any material aspects concerning Statoil’s sustainability and performance have been excluded from the Report.
Responsiveness – How has Statoil responded to stakeholder concerns?
- Nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that there are any material issues of stakeholder interest that are not currently included in the Report’s scope and content.
Conclusions concerning the report’s accordance with GRI G3 reporting guidelines and Application Level Check
Has the Report been prepared in accordance with the GRI G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and does the third-party Application Level Check confirm Statoil’s self-declared Application Level?
- Based on our review of the Report, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that Statoil management’s assertions that their reporting has been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with the GRI G3 guidelines and an application level of A+ is not fairly stated.
Conclusions concerning the HSE accounting
Is the information in the HSE accounting presented in the section “HSE accounting” of the Report an accurate and adequate representation of Statoil’s HSE performance during 2009?
In our opinion, in all material respects:
- The HSE reporting is an accurate and adequate presentation of Statoil’s performance based on Statoil’s internal reporting criteria specifically developed for HSE; and
- The key performance indicators and environmental posters are accurately compiled and aggregated, and illustrations of trends are in accordance with presented historical data.
Stavanger, 17 March 2010
ERNST & YOUNG AS
Erik Mamelund
State authorised public accountant
