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[grupo] 09/3/2018 22:25

Statoil, Total, Shell prove precocious in weaning from oil
Cassandra Sweet
Friday, March 9, 2018 - 2:15am
Oil companies are responding in different ways to growing pressure to cut the carbon output of their operations and products.
ShutterstockMakhnach S
Oil companies are responding in different ways to growing pressure to cut the carbon output of their operations and products.

When it comes to addressing climate change, oil companies are all over the map.

Meeting this week in Houston at CERAWeek, the world’s biggest oil and gas conference, the world’s biggest oil companies talked about oil and climate change — sometimes in the same sentence.

But while European oil majors such as Statoil and Total spoke about their long-term plans to shift their focus away from oil, toward natural gas and renewable energy, in line with the global transition to a low-carbon economy, their American counterparts appeared less convinced that demand for oil will diminish in future decades.

Amid growing international concerns about climate change and extreme weather events, such as destructive hurricanes, wildfires and droughts that scientists have started linking to global warming, the oil industry is under increasing pressure from investors to take action by adding low-carbon products and services to their businesses.

"The big debate in the industry and among investors is: Is there a role for the (oil) industry to play in a low-carbon transition?" said Andrew Logan, director of oil and gas at Ceres. "Do they bring anything other than cash to the table? That’s very much an open question."

Is there a role for the oil industry to play in a low-carbon transition?

Total plans to shift its focus from oil to natural gas and to expand into electricity, including renewables such as solar power and battery storage, which the company is already invested in, said Patrick Pouyanné, the company’s chairman and chief executive.

"If we’re able to shift all the coal-fired power plants to gas-fired power plants, we would be immediately on the 2-degree roadmap that the Paris Agreement is calling for," he added, speaking at CERAWeek in a session that was webcast. "In 20 years, Total will be first a gas and oil company, with some assets in alternative energies."

In 20 years, Total will be first a gas and oil company, with some assets in alternative energies.

Statoil plans to shift as much as 20 percent of its capital investments into renewables and low-carbon products by 2030. The company has invested about $2.6 billion in renewables in the last several years, particularly in offshore wind farms.

Royal Dutch Shell plans to cut its carbon footprint in half by 2050 by expanding into renewable energy and scaling back growth in oil and gas.

Shell has the right idea, climate mitigation experts say.

Oil and gas companies must cut the carbon emissions intensity of their products by 40 percent to 60 percent by 2050, Cynthia Cummins, a climate expert at the World Resources Institute, wrote in February. The world can afford a limited amount of emissions to avoid a global temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius, she added. That means that absolute carbon emissions from all global energy use needs to fall by 63 percent, and absolute emissions from oil and gas products must fall by 35 percent to 60 percent.

Some U.S. oil company executives who appeared at CERAWeek seemed skeptical of this scenario.

In ConocoPhillips' climate plan, the company describes plans to cut emissions from its operations, by boosting efficiency, plugging leaks and cutting back on gas flaring. But there is little mention of boosting investment in renewable energy, scaling back oil operations or taking other actions that would reduce the company's exposure to oil and petroleum products.

"We’ve never denied the science; we want to debate the policy," Ryan Lance, the company’s chairman and chief executive, said during an appearance at CERAWeek that was webcast. He added that the company plans to reduce its greenhouse-gas intensity over the next 15 to 20 years.

We’ve never denied the science, we want to debate the policy.

ExxonMobil in February acknowledged the threat of climate change, but predicted that global greenhouse-gas emissions will continue rising until 2040, as oil and natural gas is produced to meet more than half the world’s energy demand, with oil providing the largest share, due to strong demand from the commercial transportation and chemical industries.

Exxon released the information as part of a report on energy and carbon, in response to a shareholder resolution that sought climate disclosures about how technology advances and global climate change policies would affect the company.

Meanwhile, the pressure to change continues. Exxon and other oil companies are defending themselves in lawsuits brought by local and state governments that are making their way through the courts.

New York City, San Francisco and other cities are suing Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, Shell and BP to recover the costs of protecting their cities from climate change impacts such as rising sea levels that the cities argue are the result of decades of greenhouse gases from making and burning petroleum fuels.

New York state is separately suing Exxon over accusations that the company misled investors about how it accounts for climate change impacts on its business.

It’s unclear what effect the lawsuits might have. But policy changes in other parts of the world are sending a clear message.

Among the clearest was an announcement the World Bank made in December that it won’t finance any upstream oil and gas projects after 2019. Instead, the bank plans to focus on providing financing in "transformational areas" such as energy efficiency, solar power and resilience, as part of efforts to help countries meet their climate goals under the Paris Agreement.

[the grumpy old men] 22/2/2018 11:50

Energy majors commit to reducing methane emissions

Article by Helen Tunnicliffe

EIGHT global energy majors have committed to reducing methane emissions from their natural gas assets and to encouraging others to do the same.

The CEOs of BP, Eni, ExxonMobil, Repsol, Shell, Statoil, Total and Wintershall met to sign the Guiding Principles document on 22 November. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and if natural gas is to fulfil its role in meeting energy demand while the world transitions to a low-carbon energy market, methane emissions from the production value chain must be reduced.

The Guiding Principles document was developed in collaboration with eight environmental organisations – the Environmental Defense Fund, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Gas Union, the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative Climate Investments, the Rocky Mountain Institute, the Sustainable Gas Institute, the Energy and Resources Institute, and United Nations Environment Programme.

There are five main principles. The first is to continually reduce methane emissions, including monitoring emissions and prioritising work at the higher-emitting facilities. The signatories agree to reduce venting and fugitive emissions, and to develop and support, both operationally and financially, new emissions technologies.

The second principle is to advance strong performance across gas value chains. The eight companies involved will engage with upstream midstream and downstream participants to study methane emissions and work with industry partnerships and trade associations to improve methane emission management.

The companies will also improve the accuracy of methane emissions data, advocate sound policy and regulations, and increase transparency in emissions data reporting.

“The commitment by companies to the Guiding Principles is a very important step; we look forward to seeing the results of their implementation and wider application. The opportunity is considerable – implementing all of the cost-effective methane abatement measures worldwide would have the same effect on long-term climate change as closing all existing coal-fired power plants in China,” said Tim Gould, head of supply division, World Energy Outlook, IEA.

Article by Helen Tunnicliffe

Senior reporter, The Chemical Engineer

[the grumpy old men] 17/2/2018 11:37

BP and Shell ‘dragging feet on climate change’

Oct 28, 2017 Jonny Bairstow Sustainability & Environment, Low Carbon, Markets & Finance, Top Stories 0
Image: Tonktiti / Shutterstock / JuliusKielaitis

BP and Shell is putting shareholder capital at risk by “dragging their feet” on climate change.

That’s the claim from non-profit investment campaign ShareAction, which says both energy giants are failing to properly adapt their business models to the ongoing transition to a low carbon economy.

That’s in contrast to another new report claiming climate change is now embedded in the strategies of businesses across Europe, including Shell.

ShareAction recommends shareholders to escalate engagements with boards and management at both companies.

It also suggests investors should press the firms to provide analysis on the resilience of assets, outline plans for reducing total lifecycle emissions and disclose their position on upcoming climate legislation in the markets they operate in.

The group says failing to adapt to policies encouraging renewables and the reduced use of fossil fuels risks the savings of millions of savers, especially in the UK where exposure to Shell and BP in pension portfolios is especially high.

Michael Chaitow, Senior Campaigns Officer at ShareAction, said: “Shell and BP want to have their oil and drink it too, by advocating for the landmark Paris Agreement to limit global temperature rises to below two degrees Celsius, while planning for scenarios that would violate it.”

A spokesperson for BP told ELN: “BP intends to play our part in meeting the dual challenge of shifting to a lower carbon future while providing reliable energy to a growing world population.

Shell declined to comment on the report specifically but said: “Shell’s position on climate change is well known.”

BP, Low Carbon, Oil & Gas, Shell, climate change, global warming, investment

[waldron] 05/2/2018 17:17

Solar Innovation Could Solve Africa’s Water Problem
By Llewellyn King - Feb 05, 2018, 11:00 AM CST Australia solar

Cape Town, South Africa, one of the most beautiful and green cities in the world, will run out of water in April. On “Day Zero” (April 16 by the latest calculation), municipal water supplies from the six dams that feed the city will be exhausted and only hospitals and other vital institutions will have piped water. Everyone else will be scrounging.

Already, there have been long lines and fights at the city’s two natural springs. Bottled water is being hoarded. The prognosis is grim -- and very dry. The first hope for rain is June, a traditionally wet month. But the weather has been so aberrant that nobody knows when it will rain and how much will fall.

Cape Town is not alone but it is one of the most dramatic of the water crises, occasioned by climate change. That change has been most brutal in Africa. Droughts have millions starving and drinking putrid water. The same story in the Caribbean, after the double whammy of two hurricanes.

Much of Africa is in pitiable condition from drought and potable water is just not there for many. Two lasting memories of Africa for me are women walking great distances with water containers on their heads and men with bundles of sticks for cooking fires on theirs. Marry the water with the firewood and a warm meal may be possible.

The Western approach to these problems, since the colonial era, has been big infrastructure: central power stations, dams and water pumped great distances from one of Africa’s big rivers. (It should be noted that Africa has few of these.) Sadly, that solution favors mega-cities over towns, towns over villages and villages over farms.

That is why I was gripped with excitement hearing about a new product that, if deployed widely over the next half century, could help Africa immensely, but in short order can help the stricken Caribbean.
Related: Tajikistan’s Newest Hydropower Project

It is a Swiss Army knife of a power unit, made with off-the-shelf components, that harnesses solar energy to wring water out of the air and make electricity. Anyone who has had to empty a dehumidifier daily knows how much water there is in the air; the more humidity, the greater the water resource.

Aldelano Corporation, an imaginative, minority-owned company with manufacturing in Jackson, Tenn., is making the units. Although there are other air-to-water systems using solar, generally these are small and aimed at single family use. Aldelano is integrating water, power and even ice production in a Solar WaterMaker -- a 40-foot-long box with an industrial design life of 20 years.

Al Hollingsworth, CEO of Aldelano, has been providing solar-powered cold rooms for food processors as part of the company's business in packaging for decades. Hollingsworth founded the company in 1967 and its clients are biggies like Kellogg’s and Procter & Gamble.

Now he is in the midst of shipping the first 100 water-makers to buyers in the hurricane-ravaged islands of the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, and the British Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico, where 30 percent of the inhabitants, mostly rural, are without power and clean water is a candidate but has not yet ordered any units.

Hollingsworth told me that each unit produces up to 1,000 gallons a day and can produce electricity to light seven homes. This gives “off- the-grid” a new dimension.

I have been writing about energy for decades, and longer than that about Africa, and here is a melding of old products into a new one, which is something that can make a difference there. The technology of the wind0w air conditioner meets the technology of solar arrays, batteries and the latest compressors.
Related: How Globalization Will Create An Energy Crisis

Much of the world has looked to ease its potable water shortage with seawater desalination. There are two big problems, though: It takes a lot of power to do it -- whether with reverse osmosis or flash boiling -- and, the biggest problem, its by-product is salt. Millions of tons of the stuff presents a potential environmental catastrophe.

Where there is sun and humidity, there can be safe drinking water. Few things are more needed and the World Health Organization says 2 billion people are without it.

The people without clean drinking water are the same ones without electricity. Water from air and electricity from solar will not solve the problem but can help, one light bulb and one glass of water at a time.

By Llewellyn King for Oilprice.com

[waldron] 13/12/2017 17:18

AXA SA (CS.FR) said Tuesday that it would accelerate its commitment to fight climate change by increasing its green investments to 12 billion euros ($14.1 billion).

The insurer, which had committed in 2015 to reach EUR3 billion in green investments by 2020, said that it's quadrupling the original target, given that it has already reached it.

"A +4°C world is not insurable. As a global insurer and investor, we know that we have a key role to play," said Chief Executive Thomas Buberl, adding that in the spirit of the Paris Agreement, the company wants to accelerate its commitment and confirm its leadership in the fight against global warming.

AXA said that it would also divest more than EUR3 billion from carbon-intensive energy producers. In 2015, the company had decided to divest EUR500 million from the coal industry, a figure that it has decided to increase fivefold to EUR2.4 billion. In addition, it will divest EUR700 million from the main oil sands producers and associated pipelines, and said that it will stop further investments in these businesses.

It would be inconsistent to commercially support industries that the group is divesting from, the company said, adding that it will stop insuring any new coal construction projects. Similarly, it will stop insuring the main oil sands and the associated pipeline businesses.

AXA and the International Finance Corporation are launching an innovative $500 million partnership to support climate-related infrastructure projects in emerging countries with private sector funding, it said. No investments in coal and oil sands related projects will be made.

"The fight against climate change requires engagement in a global collective action. This can be done through collaborations and partnerships, and also by leading by example," Mr. Buberl added.



Write to Marc Bisbal Arias at [e-mail]



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December 12, 2017 05:03 ET (10:03 GMT)