Ipieca* has just released the 2022 edition of its sustainability reporting survey, subtitled ‘advancing sustainability reporting across the energy industry’. 31 oil and gas majors and service companies responded to the survey, conducted since 2012, to assess member companies’ reporting practices and expectations for the future. The result is a dense collection of some 50 graphics which are hard to summarize. Cherry picking some findings more or less at random we have the following. Climate change reporting beats all other sustainability concerns. Most (77%) do not have an external sustainability council/advisory, although external ‘audit/verification’ is often reported. Some 12 different assurance standards are used and these are increasingly verified by third parties. Other issues addressed in the survey cover corporate motivation for sustainability reporting, materiality of such, stakeholder engagement and more. There is a huge amount of information in this document and it is a recommended read, not least because it underscores what a confusing landscape sustainability is today. The survey results will also inform further development of the Ipieca, API and IOGP Sustainability reporting guidance for the oil and gas industry (2020 edition).
* Originally the ‘International petroleum industry environmental conservation association’, but now … ‘our name is now just IPIECA’.
In an interesting piece of upscale marketing, CGI showcased its ‘metaverse innovation’ and sustainable technology solutions to fight climate change during COP27. Seemingly, the metaverse can reduce the environmental impacts of travel. CGI is also to ‘share’ the investments it is making to address environment impacts, notably its Sustainability Exploration Environmental Data Science (SEEDS) UN-backed R&D program.
In its annual review of corporate reporting, the UK Financial Reporting Council found that companies’ net zero and carbon neutrality reporting is too often ‘aspirational and high level’ and ‘fails to provide users with sufficient information’. Investors are calling for better information in financial statements, including connecting net zero targets to relevant disclosures. The FRC’s report is designed to be of use to reporting teams as they prepare disclosures on net zero and other GHG emission reduction commitments.
The New York headquartered International Federation of Accountants has released the recordings of its recent Climate Week event. IFAC is working with ‘Accounting for Sustainability’ (A4S) and others to ensure that the accounting profession can advise businesses and play a key part in decarbonization. In a panel session, VP and Controller Shamsul Bahar set out Petronas’ ambitious goals for net zero by 2050 and its target of 30-40 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030. Petronas is ‘moving away from a manual data collection processes, using the skills of the finance team to enhance data quality’.
ISO has released its ‘Net Zero Guidelines, a 48 page document that provides guiding principles and recommendations to enable a common, global approach to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions through alignment of voluntary initiatives and adoption of standards, policies and national and international regulation. ISO stresses the voluntary nature of the standards. The document has 161 references to what ‘should’ be done. But only one to what ‘shall’ be done. The latter refers to the fact that ‘ISO shall not be held responsible … etc.’ The Net Zero Guidelines is free, but to access the accompanying ISO 14091 standard you will have to pay 158 Swiss Francs. We intimated to ISO that making the standard free would hasten take-up. They were having none of it.
Accenture reports on a ‘big step forward’ in methane mitigation with the recently passed US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is seen as a way to address climate change. The legislation levies charges against the largest emitters, ‘placing accountability for methane action (and inaction) at the top of c-suites’ agendas’. Total cost to industry would exceed $2.5 billion by 2024 without action on methane reduction. Corporate focus will shift 180°, from lost sales, to limiting the new tax penalties. On the plus side, the IRA has set aside a ‘sorely needed’ $1 billion for improved mitigation and reporting of methane.
Expro has received some funding for two carbon-reduction projects from the Aberdeen-based Net Zero Technology Centre. The NZTC has awarded a total of £8 million to fund net zero technologies as part of its 2022 Open Innovation Program. The award will fund Expro R&D into real-time flare emissions measurement and control and a novel approach to well testing without flaring.
MiQ and TruMarx Data Partners have announced the CG Hub, a platform for trading ‘certified’ natural gas that intends to incentivize reduction in methane emissions. The CG Hub, runs on TDP’s ‘Comet’ cloud-based energy trading platform. Certification is provided by ‘non-profit’ MiQ, ‘the fastest growing and most trusted methane emissions certification standard’. Certification is assessed against a ‘credible and transparent’ standard, leveraging ‘data-led’ emissions measurement. MiQ was established by RMI (formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute), and global sustainability consultancy SystemIQ to facilitate a ‘rapid reduction in methane emissions from the oil and gas sector’.
KeyLogic unit OnLocation is upgrading the National Energy Modeling System
it originally developed for the Department of Energy. NEMS informed the
2021 UD Dept. of State’s report on Pathways to Net-Zero Greenhouse Gas
Emissions by 2050. NEMS is also used routinely by the Energy
Information Administration for its Annual Energy Outlook. Now
OnLocation is enhancing NEMS to include Direct Air Capture, combined
bioenergy and coal retrofit technology with carbon capture other
enhancements. A new Hydrogen Market Module will provide granular
projections of hydrogen production technologies, costs, volumes,
transportation and storage and end use. These enhancements, being
developed for DOE, are important because of the expectation that
technologies and fuels such as DAC and hydrogen will play a central
role in decarbonization. More from OnLocation.
The intelligent Pipeline Integrity Program has re-contracted with Orbital Sidekick to provide its GHOSt global hyperspectral observation satellite constellation known, set to launch in 2023. The hyperspectral imaging (HSI) constellation consists of six satellites to be launched on SpaceX’s Transporter program. The iPIPE consortium targets the prevention and detection of pipeline leaks and is housed at the University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center.
Validere reports that its Carbon Hub emissions measurement and reconciliation software has been deployed by both TRP Energy, a private E&P operator in the Midland Basin and PureWest, an independent natural gas company based in Wyoming’s Green River Basin.
Climate tech firm Scepter is to launch methane-detection balloons in Texas’ Permian basin. The balloons’ payload includes hyperspectral sensors operating in short-wave infrared that can detect ‘moderate sized’ leaks of down to 50 kg methane per hour. The first balloon will go up in January 2023 to target ExxonMobil-operated areas of interest. A second balloon will launch in April to survey oil fields operated by Pioneer, Chevron, Occidental and others. Data will be analyzed by Atmospheric and Environmental Research, a Verisk unit. The stratospheric balloons are a prelude to Scepter’s ‘ultimate goal’ of methane monitoring from low-Earth orbit satellites. The balloons are provided by Tucson-based World View.
CF Industries, ExxonMobil and EnLink Midstream are collaborating on a CCS project that sets out to capture some 2 million tonnes of CO2 from a CFI dehydration and compression unit in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. This will be transported though the EnLink pipeline network for sequestration at an ExxonMobil facility in Vermilion Parish, LA.
The Global Status of CCS in 2022 from the Global CCS Institute, found that while the number of CCS plants in operation is virtually unchanged since 2021, there has been considerable progress in the ‘advanced development’ category. The total capacity of CCS projects in development was 244 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of carbon dioxide (CO2) – an increase of 44% over the past 12 months. The 70 page document lists current and planned CCS projects which appear to be reaching a new high following a 2016-18 low point. Worldwide CO2 emissions are currently put at around 36 billion tonnes/year. So the current ‘capacity’ is under 1% of global emissions. But it’s a start!
The UK-based International Oil & Gas Producers
association has just published IOGP Report 652 on recommended practices
for measurement, monitoring, and verification plans associated with
geologic storage of carbon dioxide. The Report provides a guide for
developing a measurement, monitoring, and verification plan for
geologic storage of carbon dioxide and compares CCS technologies to
monitor storage performance and assess site-specific risks. The report
is a free download from IOGP.
The Greater Houston Partnership has announced HETI, the Houston Energy Transition Initiative, dedicated to strengthening Houston’s leadership as the energy capital of the world. A report, co-authored with McKinsey explains how Houston can be the funding leader for the energy transition, leveraging the new US Inflation Reduction Act.
Oslo-based Resoptima has
partnered with Aker BP, Sval Energi, and the Norwegian NORCE R&D
establishment to reduce CO2 emissions from oil and gas production. The
joint project has the support of the Research Council of Norway. The
project will deploy Resoptima’s reservoir modelling and reservoir
management technologies to enhance oil production while minimizing CO2
emissions. Optimization will span well placement, reservoir drainage
and water injection. When validated by all parties, the software will
be added to the commercial portfolio of Resoptima for licensing on a
global basis. More from Resoptima.
The sixth edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia saw the ‘largest-ever’ carbon credit sale and a conversation between FII Institute CEO Richard Attias and Trian Fund Management’s Nelson Peltz on ‘ensuring long-term success throughout the ongoing global changes’. The mega carbon sale was announced by PIF, the Saudi Public Investment Fund and Tadawul Group in the context of the ‘transition to a carbon neutral future’, said to be ‘integral to Saudi Arabia’s efforts to achieve net-zero goals by 2060’.
Vysus Group, in partnership with Siccar, a blockchain-based enterprise data sharing platform, have announced the Energy Transition Databox. The ETD is a ‘complete emissions management solution’ to assist oil and gas operators during the energy transition.
NASA is cancelling its GeoCarb mission and is to explore other options to measure and observe greenhouse gases. The Geostationary Carbon Observatory was to study the global carbon cycle by mapping concentrations of key carbon gases from a satellite in geostationary orbit. GeoCarb was canned because of technical concerns and escalating cost, up from a budgeted $171 million to a current estimate of over $ 600 million.
A letter to the Financial Times penned by Justin Steinberg (Steinberg Asset Management) nuances some recently reported factoids on Walmart’s supply chain emissions. Steinberg refers to the ‘increasingly treacherous waters’ of ESG investing, observing that Walmart’s celebrated sustainability goal, ‘Project Gigaton’ does not in fact mean that Walmart is to reduce its supply chain emissions by a gigatonne by 2030. Gigaton’s goal is ‘aspirational’ and includes ‘avoided’ emissions. This is a ‘complicated concept with no accepted definition’. A company could in theory continue to increase emissions while counting theoretical business-as-usual emissions as a reduction. ‘Whether or not this is occurring is impossible to know because the underlying data are impenetrable’. Moreover, Walmart acknowledged that calculating supply chain emissions … is an unreliable exercise that ‘involves estimations on top of assumptions that are repeatedly layered to arrive at a falsely precise number’.
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