The oil and gas industry, which is facing pressure from investors and governments to reduce emissions, is banking on new technology and investments to reach targets, the chairman of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative said.
The OGCI, an industry body representing some of the world’s top energy companies including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, Shell and Total, are using a $1 billion fund to invest in technologies and business models that have the potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
One of the investments made is to detect and monitor natural gas leakage through infra-red monitors, the deployment of drones, aircraft and satellites.
“You can immediately shut off any leakages and this is going to change the game,” Bob Dudley, OGCI chair and former BP chief, said during a panel discussion at the Citizens Energy Congress on Wednesday. "OGCI has a satellite out there and sometimes we are calling countries and saying, '[do] you realise you have a leakage out there?', which helps."
Publicly-listed oil majors around the world have come under increasing pressure from activist investors, governments, courts and large institutional investors that promote ESG standards to reduce their carbon footprint and transition to clean energy.
ExxonMobil recently lost three of its board seats to a small activist investor Engine No. 1, which had been pressing the company to cut emissions.
Royal Dutch Shell was ordered by a Netherlands court during the same week to slash its emissions harder and faster than planned, dealing a blow to the oil company and a move that could have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the industry. However, many of the industry's major players have already taken big strides towards reducing their own carbon footprints.
“New technologies are coming all the time and there are lots of them,” Mr Dudley said.
One thing that can transform the energy industry "apart from renewables is hydrogen", he said.
"It’s a sort of colourful wonder fuel ... Hydrogen burns very, very efficiently with no emissions.”
Globally, the size of the hydrogen industry is expected to hit $183bn by 2023, up from $129bn in 2017, according to Fitch Solutions.
French investment bank Natixis estimates that investment in hydrogen will exceed $300bn by 2030.
The UAE and other countries around the region are drawing up plans to produce hydrogen and tap into the clean fuel’s potential.
OGCI is also investing in carbon capture, utilisation and storage technology to reduce emissions.
“One of the 20 investments it invested is in a cement company. Cement gives us very large amounts of carbon dioxide – as much as 11 per cent of industrial carbon dioxide comes from cement. We invested in a company where you put the carbon diioxide around it and it pulls it in and sequesters it,” he said.
The industry is, however, facing a tougher environment through which to make investments. Oil and gas companies have had to write off billion of dollars worth of assets during the pandemic, Mr Dudley said.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
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Monday, April 6, 7.30pm, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
The match will be broadcast live on the My Sports Eye Facebook page
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Coach: Chaitrali Kalgutkar
Squad: Chaya Mughal (captain), Archara Supriya, Chamani Senevirathne, Chathurika Anand, Geethika Jyothis, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kashish Loungani, Khushi Sharma, Khushi Tanwar, Rinitha Rajith, Siddhi Pagarani, Siya Gokhale, Subha Srinivasan, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish
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Western Region Asia Cup T20 Qualifier
Sun Feb 23 – Thu Feb 27, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the Asia qualifier in Malaysia in August
Group A
Bahrain, Maldives, Oman, Qatar
Group B
UAE, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
Quarter-finals
Saturday (all times UAE)
England v Australia, 11.15am
New Zealand v Ireland, 2.15pm
Sunday
Wales v France, 11.15am
Japan v South Africa, 2.15pm
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Common OCD symptoms and how they manifest
Checking: the obsession or thoughts focus on some harm coming from things not being as they should, which usually centre around the theme of safety. For example, the obsession is “the building will burn down”, therefore the compulsion is checking that the oven is switched off.
Contamination: the obsession is focused on the presence of germs, dirt or harmful bacteria and how this will impact the person and/or their loved ones. For example, the obsession is “the floor is dirty; me and my family will get sick and die”, the compulsion is repetitive cleaning.
Orderliness: the obsession is a fear of sitting with uncomfortable feelings, or to prevent harm coming to oneself or others. Objectively there appears to be no logical link between the obsession and compulsion. For example,” I won’t feel right if the jars aren’t lined up” or “harm will come to my family if I don’t line up all the jars”, so the compulsion is therefore lining up the jars.
Intrusive thoughts: the intrusive thought is usually highly distressing and repetitive. Common examples may include thoughts of perpetrating violence towards others, harming others, or questions over one’s character or deeds, usually in conflict with the person’s true values. An example would be: “I think I might hurt my family”, which in turn leads to the compulsion of avoiding social gatherings.
Hoarding: the intrusive thought is the overvaluing of objects or possessions, while the compulsion is stashing or hoarding these items and refusing to let them go. For example, “this newspaper may come in useful one day”, therefore, the compulsion is hoarding newspapers instead of discarding them the next day.
Source: Dr Robert Chandler, clinical psychologist at Lighthouse Arabia
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THREE
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