Page 7 - AsianOil Week 10 2021

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Piece of the puzzle Brighter outlook
Some differences of opinion emerged at this The outlook is brighter for natural gas, which was
year’s CERAWeek about what sort of future touted by many as being a transition fuel that has
oil and gas will have in this context. Some, a potentially longer lifespan than oil. Indeed, van
such as the CEOs of BP and Royal Dutch Beurden said that Shell will continue to invest
Shell, talked up their efforts to move away in gas even as it moves away from oil, adding
from oil and gas. that he believed gas would outlive oil for at least
“We’ve been an oil and gas company for 112 a decade. Others – particularly prominent LNG
years, and I think this is a moment where we players – echoed these expectations.
do have to reinvent the company,” BP’s CEO, “When we look at LNG and natural gas, we
Bernard Looney, said. “We decided to really think it’s a perfect complement to renewables,”
embrace that energy transition, more as a mas- US LNG producer Cheniere Energy’s president
sive opportunity and not look at it as some sort and CEO, Jack Fusco, said. “I think everybody
of threat to our core business.” will agree that natural gas is a key component of
Shell’s CEO, Ben van Beurden, for his part, a cleaner energy environment.”
said he believed his company’s oil output had Chevron’s Wirth also said his company was
peaked in 2019 and that targeting customers “bullish on natural gas” and saw LNG as having
seeking to reduce their own emissions presented “a very important role in the lower-carbon econ-
a business opportunity. omy that we’re all working toward”.
Others, meanwhile, put more emphasis on And a number of other speakers expressed
the importance of oil and gas and the demand similar sentiments.
they will continue to meet for some time.
“I think one of the key lessons [of the pan- What next
demic] here is the essential nature of our indus- Some of these concepts, including that of gas
try,” said Chevron’s CEO, Mike Wirth. “We saw a as a bridge fuel, are nothing new and have been
pandemic that created a global recession and an discussed at CERAWeek and other conferences
enormous response in policy that created eco- for some years. Other topics of discussion have
nomic slowdowns around the world. And yet, evolved. Certainly, the issue of post-pandemic
as we went through one of the most significant recovery and the changes that will come in the
shocks that we’ve seen to the global economy in wake of coronavirus (COVID-19) is a new area
decades, demand destruction for oil and gas only of focus.
averaged something like 9%, despite a crisis in Additionally, the dialogue appears to be
which we were tested like never before. And so, I increasingly shifting from simply discussing the
think it demonstrates how important our indus- importance of reducing emissions to discussions
try is to the world economy.” of the practical steps involved and how chal-
A number of company executives said they lenges can be overcome.
expected oil and gas demand to grow over the With more and more companies pursuing
next decade. their own decarbonisation targets, there will be
“Hydrocarbons are still going to be essential more to talk about in practical terms, based on
for providing energy to the world, especially in their experience.
the near term,” Baker Hughes’ CEO, Lorenzo And while some oil and gas companies will
Simonelli, said. be resistant to the idea of decarbonisation, the
Indeed, the International Energy Agency energy transition increasingly appears to be
(IEA) estimates that producers will need to unstoppable. As the CERAWeek speakers sought
invest $500-600bn per year in new oil and gas to point out, however, there are considerable
projects in order to keep up with global demand. challenges ahead.™

Week 10 11•March•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P7