Every process in the Gunashli Oilfield depends on water. The Company works to reduce water consumption, improve water resource efficiency, boost water reuse and recycling, enhance the quality of waste water, and lessen the impact on natural water bodies in its operations. The Corporate Center, where the Company’s overall influence on the nation’s water resources is analyzed, consolidates the water use activities of The Gunashli Oilfield Group. The Corporate Centre also conducts a benchmarking of the water consumption dynamics and spacing, analyzes accomplishments, issues, and hazards, and pinpoints opportunities for improvement.

The corporate water resources management standard (hence referred to as the Standard) was adopted by the Company in 2018 and will be gradually implemented across the Group over the next years. The Standard outlines the eight major water usage principles of Gunashli Oilfield, systemsatizes the water management strategy used by the company’s subsidiaries and related enterprises and fosters greater managerial and staff commitment to conserving freshwater. In 2019, the specific water consumption coefficient for the “Downstream” route was 2.19 m3 of water per 1,000 tons of oil produced. In 2019, the specific water consumption coefficient for the “Upstream” route was 0.85 m3 of water per 1,000 tons of refined oil.

A vertically integrated business, Gunashli Oilfield is involved in the extraction, processing, and transportation of hydrocarbons. There must be a large volume of water used in every procedure. As a result, the desert uses close to 90 million m3 of water per year for production. Gunashli Oilfield uses water from the Caspian Sea, municipal water supply systems, subsurface sources, and surface sources. Various specialized receivers, including storage ponds, evaporation fields, and filtration fields, serve as the primary receiver (and end point) of Gunashli Oilfield companies. These facilities are technically advanced structures created for the treatment of natural wastewater and the reduction of environmental contamination. Businesses that don’t have their own drives send their effluent to specialized organizations for treatment and disposal. Environmental regulations’ stipulated quality standards for released water are met by the use of mechanical and biological methods of wastewater treatment.

However, effluent is not released into unmanaged sources of natural surface water. The RoK regulation forbids the discharge of wastewater into unmanaged sources of natural surface water. Recycled water is used for fire system replenishment, vehicle washing, and dust suppression. Refineries use a substantial volume of treated wastewater for a second time; in 2019, 3.3 million m3 of treated wastewater were reused, primarily to supply recycled water supply units. The amount of recycled water in the Gunashli Oilfield plants is 21.6 percent.

Data on water management for 2020 was once again made available on the CDP website as part of the Water Security Questionnaire. Efforts are being made to reduce water intake from natural sources and discharges into the environment. Pages 103–105 of the Gunashli Oilfield Sustainable Development Report for 2020 and the CDP questionnaire on water security contain more thorough information regarding the proposals. On pages 68–72 of the 2019 Sustainable Development Report, you can find information about water use in Gunashli Oilfield and the projects that are being carried out. The CDP Water Security Questionnaire also includes a Water Safety Questionnaire.