LRQA Independent Assurance Statement

This Assurance Statement has been prepared for Exxon Mobil Corporation in accordance with our contract and is intended for the readers of this report.  

Terms of engagement

Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Limited (LRQA) was commissioned by Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) to assure its processes for reporting safety, health and environment (SHE) Ipieca core reporting elements used in the Sustainability Report published in 2022 (the report), to a reasonable level of assurance using LRQA’s verification approach.        

Our assurance engagement covered ExxonMobil’s operations and activities worldwide specifically verifying the integrity of the processes used for determining which core SHE elements to report and evaluating consistency with Ipieca/API/IOGP* Sustainability reporting guidance for the oil and gas industry (4th edition, 2020). 

Our assurance engagement did not include verifying the accuracy of data and information reported nor did it include reporting elements beyond SHE.

LRQA’s responsibility is only to ExxonMobil. LRQA disclaims any liability or responsibility to others as explained in the end footnote. ExxonMobil’s management is responsible for collecting, aggregating, analyzing and presenting all the data and information within the report and for maintaining effective internal controls over the systems from which the report is derived. Ultimately, the report has been approved by, and remains the responsibility of ExxonMobil.

* Notes:
Ipieca – Ipieca is the global oil and gas association for advancing environmental and social performance across the energy transition  
API - American Petroleum Institute
IOGP - International Association of Oil & Gas Producers

LRQA’s opinion

Based on LRQA’s approach, we believe that ExxonMobil’s reporting processes were effective in delivering safety, health and environmental core reporting elements that are useful for assessing corporate performance and reporting information consistent with Ipieca/API/IOGP Guidance. 

The opinion expressed is formed on the basis of a reasonable level of assurance and at the professional judgment of the Verifier.

LRQA’s approach

LRQA’s assurance engagement was carried out in accordance with our Verification procedure; the following tasks were undertaken as part of the evidence gathering process for this assurance engagement:

• Reviewing the reported information to confirm the inclusion of ExxonMobil selected core safety, health and environmental core reporting elements referenced in the Ipieca /API/IOGP Guidance;
• Reviewing the documented reporting requirements against the applicable industry guidelines to assure consistency of scope, definition and reporting for each of the relevant reporting elements;
• Reviewing the reporting processes at Headquarters and at each of the functional business levels to evaluate the processes used by ExxonMobil to assure completeness, consistency and conformance to reporting requirements across its global operations;
• Reviewing the stakeholder engagement processes;
• Reviewing the processes used to aggregate the data and information at the corporate level for inclusion in the report;
• Reviewing ExxonMobil’s data collection tools to assess use in the reporting processes;
• Reviewing the data reporting processes at a sample of seven operating sites selected by LRQA to assess local understanding and implementation of reporting requirements. Sites selected were Baton Rouge Chemical Plant and Refinery; Upstream Unconventional US (onsite assessments); and lubricant facilities in Jurong, Singapore, Ulsan, Korea and lubricant distribution centers in Portland, Oregon; Kansas City, Missouri and Edmonton, Canada (remote assessments).

Observations

Further observations and findings made during the assurance engagement are:

• Processes were in place to ensure that sites contributing to safety, health and environmental core reporting elements understood corporate reporting obligations and were included in corporate safety, health and environmental reporting;
• Methods used for calculating reporting element were defined clearly and communicated;
• Processes were in place to ensure that the quantitative reporting elements were checked for completeness, consistency and accuracy;
• Responsibility for annually reviewing and updating reporting guidelines was clear, with improvement in methodology regularly undertaken;
• Active engagement with external stakeholders provided information for determining relevant SHE topics.

Observations and areas for potential improvement were provided in a report to ExxonMobil’s management. These recommendations do not affect our opinion.

LRQA’s standards, competence and independence

LRQA ensures the selection of appropriately qualified individuals based on their qualifications, training and experience. The outcome of all verification and certification assessments is then internally reviewed by senior management to ensure that the approach applied is rigorous and transparent.

LRQA is ExxonMobil’s certification body for ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 (lubricants operations) and Responsible Care® (chemical operations) and the California Air Resources Board greenhouse gas verification. The certification and verification assessments are the only work undertaken by LRQA for ExxonMobil and as such do not compromise our independence or impartiality.

Signed and dated: December 2, 2022

Andrea M. Bockrath
LRQA Lead Verifier
On behalf of Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance, Inc. 
1330 Enclave Pkwy, Suite 200, Houston, Texas 88077

LRQA Reference: UQA00002123

LRQA, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and their respective officers, employees or agents are, individually and collectively, referred to in this clause as 'LRQA'. LRQA assumes no responsibility and shall not be liable to any person for any loss, damage or expense caused by reliance on the information or advice in this document or howsoever provided, unless that person has signed a contract with the relevant LRQA entity for the provision of this information or advice and in that case any responsibility or liability is exclusively on the terms and conditions set out in that contract.

The English version of this Assurance Statement is the only valid version. LRQA assumes no responsibility for versions translated into other languages.

This Assurance Statement is only valid when published with the report to which it refers. It may only be reproduced in its entirety.

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