Major international oil companies (IOCs) are increasingly emphasizing the significance of climate change to their corporate strategy, according to leading data and analytics company GlobalData.
Daniel Rogers, upstream analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The ever increasing relevance of environmental sustainability has led to long-term corporate commitments linking to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and lower carbon footprints. Among the supermajors, mentions of the climate change theme in corporate earnings and filings increased by over 150% from 2016-19.”
Many of the major oil and gas companies have now pledged to lower their long-term carbon footprints and reduce emissions through a variety of different strategies. Equinor has established itself as a leader in offshore field electrification in an attempt to replace conventional gas turbine power generators, while Chevron has successfully commenced operations of the largest commercial-scale CO2 injection facility at Gorgon, reducing project emissions by 40%.
Rogers concludes: “Of the supermajors studied, Europeans stood out as the top performers of the group with Royal Dutch Shell observing the largest reduction in flaring volumes and improved greenhouse gas intensity over the timeframe. BP proved to be the most efficient supermajor with the lowest emissions intensity and continued year on year improvements since 2015.
“As a whole, the group performed well in efforts to reduce absolute flare volumes with a combined reduction of 25% and long term targets suggest reductions will continue over the coming years. As of now, the Europeans are leading the way to net zero but the reverberations will continue to be felt globally.”
