Ocyan expands diversity with women at the helm

From 2019 to 2022, the participation of women in leadership positions at the company, which operates in the oil and gas sector, rose from 19% to 32%.

Ocyan has increased diversity in the oil and gas industry and today women occupy almost one third of the company’s leadership positions, both onshore and offshore.

Ocyan’s Diversity and Inclusion program has contributed to the fight against gender inequality with concrete actions: between 2019 and 2022, the participation of women in company management positions has risen from 19% to 32%. As a signatory since last year of the UN Women Lead 2030 Movement, Ocyan is committed to raising this rate to 50% by the end of the decade. This commitment adds to their ESG agenda that was agreed upon just over a year ago. At the end of February, the company took another step in this direction by joining MEO – Women in Operation Institute, which integrates and supports associates to inspire and prepare women from operations areas to assume leadership positions.

One woman pulls on another

Among the women in leadership positions is engineer Cristina Pinho, the first black woman to hold a seat on the Executive Board of a company in the oil and gas sector in Brazil; the general manager of Norbe VI rig, Clarisse Rodrigues, who has led the vessel since the asset was built at the Daewoo shipyard in South Korea; and engineer Ana Paula Santana, assistant platform manager of the drilling rig ODN II and who today encourages the attraction of more women by leading Ocyan’s Gender Equity Affinity Group.

“In order toprevent progress from being interrupted, Ocyan participates in a mentoring program at IBP, in which more experienced professionals guide the younger ones on how to evolve in their careers, including offshore positions, and created ElasOcyan, an internal initiative for female empowerment. In order to make this a collective movement throughout the O&G sector, the company launched in 2021 the campaign “The Sea also belongs to them”, an initiative of the company that already has the adherence of more than 20 companies and entities. The campaign seeks to promote and ensure gender equity, equal opportunities, and the well-being of women who work or wish to expand their careers in the offshore segments,” celebrates Ana Paula Santana.

A survey conducted prior to the “The Sea also belongs to them” campaign with women working onboard various companies in the sector sought to understand the potential and barriers for increasing the female presence at sea. Of these professionals surveyed, 50% responded that they feel very competent in performing a technical function and dealing with challenges that stimulate them daily. For 47% of the professionals, salaries are considered “very good”, but they still demand that companies improve the environments and even the infrastructure of the ships to facilitate the reception of the professionals.

Ocyan has also promoted an exclusive training program in partnership with SENAI of Rio de Janeiro aimed at women. The initiative sought to develop skills as apprentice welders, logistics/platform assistants, and also a mini-course on female entrepreneurship, also open to women in vulnerable situations.