In the North Sea Region, two separate employee committees determine where Apache will donate charitable funds each year: a regional Philanthropy Committee and a Bond Committee. On our offshore platforms, employees and contractors shop at commissaries for incidentals such as toiletries, stationery, and snacks. These purchases take place offshore and therefore are not subject to sales tax. However, in a demonstration of our culture of giving back, our offshore workforce chose to pay the United Kingdom tax rate on the items, putting the money toward a charity fund. The amounts collected add up fast, totaling over £2,000,000 since we began the program in 2010. The eight-member Bond Committee decides where to donate the funds, taking into consideration requests submitted by offshore workers.

This past year’s gifts included the following:

• A contribution to a UK oil and gas hardship fund, which provides financial support to past and present workers in the industry who are struggling with work-related injuries and illnesses.
• A contribution to support Maggie’s Centre in Aberdeen.
• A donation to purchase a new van for a Scottish charity that provides food, clothing, and furniture to individuals in need.

Apache’s North Sea Region has supported TechFest in Aberdeen since 2013. The TechFest Science Festival is an annual science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) event that aims to promote STEM subjects to young people and the wider community by providing an accessible, diverse, and entertaining program. Separately, the North Sea Region funded the development of kits for constructing and operating a 3D printer. The kits were designed, tested, and produced by students at a local school, with five printers being supplied to other schools in Scotland.

Apache also covers administrative costs and support services for Maggie’s Centre in Aberdeen – five years after initially partnering with the charity to support the building of the first cancer care center of its kind. In addition, Apache provided assistance for various building modifications to a specialist neurological care center based in Aberdeen to ensure that the center continues to provide state-of-the-art care and facilities to its residents. The North Sea Region also recently supported Friends of ANCHOR, which serves oncology and hematology patients throughout northeastern Scotland.

Apache donated to the North East Rider Volunteers (NERV), an organization that uses motorbikes to transport urgent medical supplies and equipment between hospitals, healthcare sites, and labs in the northeastern part of the country. The donation allowed NERV to purchase a new “blood bike” (a Triumph Tiger named “Beryl” after the oil field in the North Sea) to add to its existing fleet.