Although differences persist among regional markets, this Practice Note explains that the traditional conception of ‘key stakeholders’ may be opening up to a greater diversity of interests, including ‘non-financial’ interests, such as environmental concerns, in the context of Midstream and downstream activities.

Identifying the ‘key stakeholders’ in the Oil & Gas industry requires careful attention to the operational realities of the industry itself. As the term implies, to identify key stakeholders, one must determine what ‘stakes’ there are in the industry (understood as interests or goals) to identify those who hold them. A brief overview of the Oil & Gas industry is helpful to set the stage for this discussion.

The industry is, generally speaking, divided into three major sectors: Upstream, midstream and downstream. Simply put, the three stages can be summarised as follows:

1. •

   ‘upstream’ activities can include everything from a given stage of the production process back toward the initial exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas

2. •

   ‘midstream’ is used to describe Intermediary steps such as