Big Oil wants to save planet, keep drilling
Some of the world’s biggest oil companies will invest US$1 billion over the next 10 years to develop technologies to capture and store emissions of greenhouse gases and improve energy efficiency.
The investment. announced Friday, from 10 companies including Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, aims to deploy low-carbon technologies on a large scale. Those energy producers are part of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), which is seeking ways the industry can support a global deal to tackle climate change while continuing to produce their hydrocarbon reserves.
The investment comes as the Paris climate accord enters into force, and three days before delegates from almost 200 countries gather in Morocco for the latest round of talks. The companies, which together account for about a fifth of the world’s oil and gas output, last year backed policies consistent with limiting the increase in average global temperatures to within 2 C.
To give the world a 50 per cent chance of limiting the temperature increase to below 2 C, about one third of oil reserves, half of natural gas and 80 per cent of coal must remain unburnt, according to the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, a London-based researcher.
The OGCI has identified two focus areas: accelerating the deployment of carbon capture and storage and reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.