Critical Analyses of Sustainability Reporting by National Oil and Gas Companies in GCC Countries.

• In Event: CsR

Abstract

Several international and national organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) have adopted sustainability reporting guidelines, which has encouraged many oil and gas companies to follow suit. Recognizing the importance of these guidelines, national oil and gas companies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have started implementing sustainability reporting practices. The objective of this study is to critically analyze the quality of sustainability reporting by these companies. To achieve this objective, this study conducts a content analysis of the sustainability reports published by nine national oil and gas companies in the GCC countries for the year 2013. The results reveal that, by and large, the quality of sustainability information disclosed by the oil and gas companies is suitable. However, not all the oil and gas companies included in this study provide information of suitable quality for some topics such as corruption prevention, public advocacy, and lobbying. The results of this study also show that the state-owned companies of some governments, such as those of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), paid more attention to sustainable development issues and provided high quality sustainability reporting. This study successfully addresses many previously unanswered issues with regard to the quality of sustainability reporting by the national oil and gas companies in the GCC countries. Hence, the results of the analysis can be used to improve shortcomings in the quality of sustainability reporting.

Authors

• Yaseen Al-Janadi, Qatar University

• Abdulsamad Alazzani, Qatar University