Page 9 - NorthAmOil Week 22

NorthAmOil COMMENTARY NorthAmOil

Suncor’s CEO touts oil sands’

role in energy transition

Suncor’s CEO, Mark Little, has warned that the energy transition could

prove as disruptive to oil demand as COVID-19 but has suggested that

Canada’s oil sands industry could play a leading role in driving low-
carbon growth

ALBERTA SUNCOR Energy’s CEO, Mark Little, has part of the global energy mix for some time to
warned that the energy transition has the poten- come. At the same time, though, they warned
WHAT: tial to disrupt oil demand on a similar scale to the that significant disruption was possible, and that
According to Suncor’s coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, new opportunities with “attractive growth pros-
CEO, the energy transition in an opinion piece published in Canada’s Cor- pects” could be harnessed alongside oil and gas,
presents both threats porate Knights magazine this week, co-authored rather than instead of it.
to oil demand and by Little and Alberta Innovates’ CEO, Laura Kil- “The temporary economic lockdown trig-
opportunities for oil crease, it was suggested that the oil sands indus- gered by the 2020 pandemic is giving us a
sands producers. try had opportunities to play a leading role in this glimpse into a not-too-distant future where the
transition. transformation of our energy system could dis-
WHY: The article was eye-catching because the oil rupt demand on a similar scale,” Little and Kil-
Efforts to drive the industry typically tends to downplay the impact crease wrote.
energy transition are that electrification and the energy transition
gaining momentum as could have on fossil fuel demand. And indeed Steps forward
environmental, social Suncor is one of the largest oil sands producers The article’s co-authors highlighted some steps
and governance targets – an industry that has been criticised by environ- that Suncor had already taken with an eye to the
become more of a mental groups for being more carbon intensive energy transition. Among them is the company’s
priority. than other oil operations. partnership with Enerkem, which turns house-
However, Little and Kilcrease contended that hold waste into biofuels. Suncor has bought an
WHAT NEXT: the oil and gas industry was one of the largest equity stake in Enerkem, and also provides the
Suncor’s Little has called markets for – and potentially investors in – clean company with the technical resources to support
for federal investment to technology in Canada. They cited the history operations at its plant in Alberta.
help the industry diversify of the oil sands as evidence that disruption and In the first month of the partnership,
into hydrogen, renewable transformation is not new for the industry. Enerkem produced more cellulosic ethanol than
jet fuel and carbon fibre. They suggested that Canadian oil and gas it had done in its history. Little and Kilcrease
would still be a necessary, and indeed significant, wrote that this demonstrated “the potential for

Oil demand has been
hit unprecedentedly
hard by COVID-19.

Week 22 04•June•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9