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US oil majors pledge to tackle climate change
US oil majors Chevron, ExxonMobil and Occidental Petroleum have pledged to tackle climate change and joined the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI). Their addition to the ranks means that OGCI members now represent around 30% of global oil and gas production, and supply close to 20% of global primary energy consumption.
Launched in 2014, the OGCI aims to increase the ambition, speed and scale of the initiatives undertaken by its individual companies to help reduce manmade greenhouse gas emissions, in particular from the production and use of oil and gas in power, heating, industry and transport. Its $1bn-plus investment arm, OGCI Climate Investments, supports the development, deployment and scale-up of low emissions technology and business models.
The 13 member companies of OGCI – BP, Chevron, CNPC, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental, Pemex, Petrobras, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Total – represent regions including China, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and now the US, widening the initiative’s global reach and making its members’ collaborative effort in support of the Paris Agreement a significant global action. Each member of the group has contributed $100mn to a shared investment fund; this is on top of the billions of dollars spent towards low carbon technologies in their own operations.
In a joint statement, the heads of the OGCI member companies said: ‘Over the past four years, OGCI has brought together international and national oil and gas companies to accelerate the deployment of concrete solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our ambitions increase each year and as we welcome three new member companies, we will continue to build momentum and strengthen our collective reach and impact to deliver practical action on climate change.’
Michael Wirth, Chairman and CEO of Chevron, said: ‘We are pleased to be joining OGCI to work constructively on addressing the risks of climate change.’
‘It will take the collective efforts of many in the energy industry and society to develop scalable, affordable solutions that will be needed to address the risks of climate change,’ commented Darren Woods, ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO. Earlier this year, ExxonMobil announced initiatives to lower greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operations by 2020, including reducing methane emissions by 15% and flaring by 25%. The company states that since 2000, it has spent more than $9bn to develop and deploy higher-efficiency and lower-emission energy solutions across its operations.
Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub noted: ‘Industry innovation and collaboration have a critical role to play in addressing climate change… Occidental is advancing carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2 EOR) as a form of carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration (CCUS)… technology that has the potential to help achieve global goals for reducing emissions.’
Collective methane target
Shortly after welcoming the three US oil majors to its ranks, the OGCI announced a target to reduce by 2025 the collective average methane intensity of its aggregated upstream gas and oil operations by one fifth to below 0.25%; with the ambition to achieve 0.20%, corresponding to a one-third reduction.
Methane intensity refers to the methane that gets lost in the atmosphere when producing oil and gas, as a percentage of the gas sold. As noted in our ‘Mitigating methane matters’ article in the September issue of Petroleum Review, methane has serious implications for climate change, being at least 84 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year horizon, according to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
Achieving the agreed intensity target of 0.25% by the end of 2025 would reduce collective emissions by 350,000 t/y of methane, compared to the baseline of 0.32% in 2017.* As noted, OGCI is seeking to go beyond this target, to achieve as much as one-third reduction in the same timeframe.
Chinese greenhouse gas technology fund
In other news, OGCI member China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and OGCI Climate Investments have unveiled plans to create an investment fund focused on China. A minimum of $100mn is to be committed to the fund, which will support the development, demonstration, and rapid scale-up of technologies and business solutions that have the potential to materially reduce greenhouse gases.
‘With the largest greenhouse gas emissions, China is confronted with a huge challenge of climate change. However, it is also one of the largest markets for low-carbon technology application and has one of the most dynamic private capital markets,’ said Xiao Hua, Executive Director of CNPC Assets Management.
*The OGCI baseline of 0.32% in 2017 and the collective annual reduction of 350,000 tonnes of methane emissions to reach the collective methane intensity target do not reflect the contribution of the three new US member companies Chevron, ExxonMobil and Occidental.
Photo:Shutterstock
Launched in 2014, the OGCI aims to increase the ambition, speed and scale of the initiatives undertaken by its individual companies to help reduce manmade greenhouse gas emissions, in particular from the production and use of oil and gas in power, heating, industry and transport. Its $1bn-plus investment arm, OGCI Climate Investments, supports the development, deployment and scale-up of low emissions technology and business models.
The 13 member companies of OGCI – BP, Chevron, CNPC, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental, Pemex, Petrobras, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Total – represent regions including China, the Middle East, Latin America, Europe and now the US, widening the initiative’s global reach and making its members’ collaborative effort in support of the Paris Agreement a significant global action. Each member of the group has contributed $100mn to a shared investment fund; this is on top of the billions of dollars spent towards low carbon technologies in their own operations.
In a joint statement, the heads of the OGCI member companies said: ‘Over the past four years, OGCI has brought together international and national oil and gas companies to accelerate the deployment of concrete solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our ambitions increase each year and as we welcome three new member companies, we will continue to build momentum and strengthen our collective reach and impact to deliver practical action on climate change.’
Michael Wirth, Chairman and CEO of Chevron, said: ‘We are pleased to be joining OGCI to work constructively on addressing the risks of climate change.’
‘It will take the collective efforts of many in the energy industry and society to develop scalable, affordable solutions that will be needed to address the risks of climate change,’ commented Darren Woods, ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO. Earlier this year, ExxonMobil announced initiatives to lower greenhouse gas emissions associated with its operations by 2020, including reducing methane emissions by 15% and flaring by 25%. The company states that since 2000, it has spent more than $9bn to develop and deploy higher-efficiency and lower-emission energy solutions across its operations.
Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub noted: ‘Industry innovation and collaboration have a critical role to play in addressing climate change… Occidental is advancing carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2 EOR) as a form of carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration (CCUS)… technology that has the potential to help achieve global goals for reducing emissions.’
Collective methane target
Shortly after welcoming the three US oil majors to its ranks, the OGCI announced a target to reduce by 2025 the collective average methane intensity of its aggregated upstream gas and oil operations by one fifth to below 0.25%; with the ambition to achieve 0.20%, corresponding to a one-third reduction.
Methane intensity refers to the methane that gets lost in the atmosphere when producing oil and gas, as a percentage of the gas sold. As noted in our ‘Mitigating methane matters’ article in the September issue of Petroleum Review, methane has serious implications for climate change, being at least 84 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year horizon, according to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC).
Achieving the agreed intensity target of 0.25% by the end of 2025 would reduce collective emissions by 350,000 t/y of methane, compared to the baseline of 0.32% in 2017.* As noted, OGCI is seeking to go beyond this target, to achieve as much as one-third reduction in the same timeframe.
Chinese greenhouse gas technology fund
In other news, OGCI member China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and OGCI Climate Investments have unveiled plans to create an investment fund focused on China. A minimum of $100mn is to be committed to the fund, which will support the development, demonstration, and rapid scale-up of technologies and business solutions that have the potential to materially reduce greenhouse gases.
‘With the largest greenhouse gas emissions, China is confronted with a huge challenge of climate change. However, it is also one of the largest markets for low-carbon technology application and has one of the most dynamic private capital markets,’ said Xiao Hua, Executive Director of CNPC Assets Management.
*The OGCI baseline of 0.32% in 2017 and the collective annual reduction of 350,000 tonnes of methane emissions to reach the collective methane intensity target do not reflect the contribution of the three new US member companies Chevron, ExxonMobil and Occidental.
Photo:Shutterstock
News Item details
Journal title: Petroleum Review
Countries: USA -
Subjects: Carbon capture, transportation and storage, Oil and gas, Business management, Methane, Emission control, Energy policy, Climate change, Carbon emissions, Carbon dioxide, Energy technology, Low carbon
