Passion takes planning.
Laying the foundation of our big ambitions.
Our mission is to lead the industry in the safe and profitable production of net-zero natural gas. Governance is the means to that end—the priorities, the strategies, the tactics and technology. Behind all of this is our unconditional commitment to financial and ethical discipline, along with our responsibility to our investors, partners, employees and communities.
It’s amazing what methodology and discipline can accomplish.
Right this way.
To align our strategic priorities with our employee efforts, BKV has implemented a Short-Term Incentive Plan (STIP), which sets specific performance targets for a specific period. To compel progress, we reward our people for achieving financial and non-financial measures along the way through bonuses, recognition and other incentives.
Unrisky business.
To maintain our successful momentum, BKV employs a comprehensive enterprise risk management (ERM) strategy to identify, assess and manage risks. Securing and maintaining the integrity of our data is critical to all the above. To this end, we follow best practices that include cybersecurity incident protocols, third-party assessments, employee security training and response drills, full off-cloud and nightly backups and other controls.
Incentivizing goals
Tied to EHSR and ESG metrics.
Tied to shareholder value creation.
Tied to operational and strategic objectives.
Thinking outside the firewall
“In an IoT-trending industry, it’s crucial that we evolve faster than the threats around us.”
- Kevin Barrett, BKV Cloud Infrastructure Architect
In 2021, the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack exposed weaknesses in U.S. infrastructure. The incident disrupted energy supplies across the East Coast, raising gas prices and highlighting the vulnerability of industry’s operational and economic interconnectedness.
For any organization doing business in the 21st century, cybersecurity has become a critical pillar of its risk portfolio. This holds particularly true at BKV. As a technology-forward company, we rely heavily on digital operations and communications to do our jobs, which includes overseeing and maintaining the security of some 6,200 wells. To ensure the confidence of our customers and investors, it’s imperative that we protect our infrastructure from geopolitical risks, cyber threats and other disruptions.
Overseeing that directive is BKV’s robust Information Technology team. Kevin Barrett, BKV's Cloud Infrastructure Architect, said, “Health and safety have always been our top priorities. That commitment extends to our employees and communities, which we are a part of. And one of the biggest identified risks for any operator is a third party gaining control of a well and causing an environmental incident.”
To mitigate that risk, BKV has established a significant cybersecurity footprint around its operations. Our multi-layered defense and response protocols rely fundamentally on the integrity of data and communications, constantly monitored to enable the right decisions swiftly.
In assessing threats, the team looks at our continuum of operations—upstream, midstream, downstream, CCUS and energy. We evaluate network security, endpoint security, cloud and infrastructure. After conducting vulnerability assessments, we assign potential risks to the appropriate controls, whether it’s a person, a computer, a governance policy or a combination.
“Email, for example, is a major vector for threats because it’s used so heavily,” said Barrett . To protect it, BKV employs next-generation artificial intelligence and machine learning. For infrastructure, they layer on physical security, which includes 24/7 managed services and threat detection.
With most organizations as well as at BKV, employees can comprise our number-one defense. We train users monthly on the most current cybersecurity issues, so they can effectively identify and respond to threats. Adding another layer, a third party evaluates our efforts on a regular basis.
Barrett continues, “But ultimately, our stance must be more than defensive. As our response capabilities become more sophisticated, so do the threats. Which is why BKV is committed to staying ahead of the technological curve.”