…Says OPEC welcomes technologies to end gas flaring
OpeOluwani Akintayo
12 October 2018, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Oil and gas are not an environmental challenge, Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, has said, adding that the challenge is the emissions that come from burning them.
Dr. Mohammed Barkindo stated this at the 39th Oil and Money Conference in London on Thursday.
He also said OPEC welcomes technologies to end gas flaring, a menace the world, especially oil-producing emerging economies such as Nigeria, has been battling to end.
In May, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Maikanti Baru, while delivering a paper at the 50th Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, in Houston, United States, said the corporation had a 2020 deadline to end the menace.
According to Barkindo, solutions could be found in technologies that reduce and ultimately eliminate these emissions.
“I welcome coordinated action within the industry and through various research and development platforms, such as the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, which continues to expand as a group and implement bold actions,” he said.
On the policy front, he stresses that if the industry were worried about policies that detrimentally impact oil, with talk of stranded assets and declining values of oil, there is a potentially dangerous scenario, one that could increase volatility significantly.
This is not in the interests of either producers or consumers, he said, adding: “This is brought home by the scale of the investment requirements”.
Oil-related investments across the upstream, midstream and downstream are estimated at around $11 trillion in the period to 2040.
According to him, the basic foundation for investment and growth can only come through balance and stability in the market.
In this regard, Barkindo said OPEC member countries remain fully committed to investments across the whole industry value chain, adding that the issue of returning global investments is a core focus of the ‘Declaration of Cooperation’.
He called for cooperation of non-OPEC countries with OPEC. “My final point and one that links everything I have said today relates to ‘cooperation’”.
“As OPEC, as the countries in the ‘Declaration’, and as an industry, we need to tell our story over and over again”.
“We need to work together to bring reasoned thinking, and realistic ambitions to our global energy future”.
“Over the years OPEC has pushed many forms of energy cooperation, including both producers and consumers, and we stand willing and ready to dialogue with all industry stakeholders,” he stressed.
