Oil Industry CEOs Disagree with U.S. Energy Transition

A U.S. Energy Department official said that the industry has a moral duty to deal with climate change and the economic opportunities it presents. However, this week, top energy executives called for a slower transition away from oil and gas.

A group of executives from Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil and Chevron, said at the World Petroleum Congress in Houston on Monday, that they blamed a growing demand for renewable energy and a lack of investment in fossil fuels for recent fuel shortfall and unstable prices.

The top energy ministers didn’t come to the conference because they couldn’t travel because of travel restrictions and they were worried about the Coronavirus. The verbal argument took place at a time when oil demand has rebounded sharply from a drop during the coronavirus pandemic, even though world governments have been stressing the need to deal with climate change.

“The volatility in commodity prices and the impact on business and people,” said Anders Opedal, Equinor ASA Chief Executive, “illustrates the risks we face in an imbalanced transition.”

As the U.S. deputy Energy secretary, David Turk says he disagrees with the industry. He says that climate change can’t be ignored. “There is not an alternative to stepping up and fixing the threat to climate change.”

Natural gas, coal, and electricity are in short supply across Asia and Europe as a result of production declines that have driven prices to multi-year highs. The Biden administration in the United States has blame the oil and gas industry, claiming that it prioritizes money over customer’s need.

Executives at major oil companies say that the conflict between investing in oil and gas, carbon reduction technologies, and responding to investors’ demands for higher returns will continue.

“The future of energy is lower carbon from exploration discoveries and production,” said vice president of global exploration at Chevron, Liz Schwarze.

Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, said too many assumptions are made about how fast consumers will switch from oil and gas to renewables.

People “assume that the right transition strategy is in place. It’s not,” said Nasser. “Energy security, economic development and affordability are clearly not receiving enough attention.”

Original source material for this article taken from here