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Oil industry giants organize to reduce emissions

By Alex Mills

 

October 24, 2019

Thirteen international oil and gas companies have committed $1 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The organization, called the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), will support the goals of the Paris Agreement, which will include unlocking large-scale investments in carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) and supporting new taxes and economic incentive aimed at reducing emissions.

The OGCI member companies are BP, Chevron, CNPC, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental, Pemex, Petrobras, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Total. They account for 32 percent of global operated oil and gas production, OGCI said.

The CCUS is designed to help decarbonize multiple industrial hubs around the world, starting with hubs in the United States, United Kingdom, Norway, the Netherlands and China.

“The program seeks to create a commercially viable, safe and environmentally responsible CCUS industry and double the amount of carbon dioxide that is currently stored globally before 2030,” according to an OGCI statement.

The OGCI also wants to build on the industry’s reduction in methane emissions (9 percent in 2018) and to include carbon emissions in hope that future temperature increases will not exceed 2 degrees Celsius.

To complement its methane emissions-intensity target, OGCI seeks to reduce collective average carbon intensity by 2025. The goal will take into account carbon dioxide and methane emissions from members’ aggregated upstream oil and gas operations emissions equivalent in 2017.

“Member companies have developed a baseline and are aligning methodology and assumptions to work towards the collective target. Reducing carbon intensity involves actions including improving energy efficiency, minimizing flaring, upgrading facilities and co-generating electricity and useful heat,” OGCI said…….