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Thursday, November 3, 2016
In October 2015 10 major oil and gas firms came together and declared their collective support for an effective climate change agreement to be reached at the November 2016’s 21st session of the UN Conference of Parties to the UN Framework on Climate Change (COP21). Just about one year later under mounting pressure it was reported that the CEO’s of BP, ENI, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil, and Total as part of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative will reveal the details of a joint investment fund to develop technologies aimed at lowering emissions and promoting renewable energy.
The fund will also focus on ways to reduce costs of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, which involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions produced from fossil fuel burning plants and re-injecting them into underground caverns.
The next phase of their plan to reduce the oil sector’s emissions, primarily by reducing flaring of excess gas at fields, increasing the use of CCS and limiting the release of methane, a highly polluting gas often emitted through pipe leaks.
OGCI leaders called on governments’ last year to set a price on carbon emissions to encourage the use of cleaner technologies, although some companies including ExxonMobil have resisted the idea. It should be noted that the original 10 firms named in October 2016, not one was a US firm. Besides the seven mentioned above there was Reliance Industries, Pemex, and BG (now part of Shell).
Some of these majors have already made a concerted effort in contributing to a greener future, with Total and Statoil leading the way. ENI has begun investing in renewable energy in a number of countries where it holds oil and gas operations, specifically Egypt and Algeria.
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