According to the Energy Research Institute, fossil fuels will still dominate 81.5% of the global energy mix by 2023.
“This just goes to show how difficult it is to change the energy mix,” said Lorenzo Simonelli, Baker’s chairman and chief executive. “It’s not because companies aren’t trying and making progress. It’s because it takes time.” Hughes, a global energy technology company.
Speaking on a panel hosted by CNBC at the Adipec Energy Conference in Abu Dhabi, Simonelli said Baker Hughes had managed to reduce emissions by 28.3% by implementing new technologies and improving efficiency.
Takayuki Ueda, Representative Director, President and CEO of Japanese oil company INPEX, reiterated the role of technology in the energy transition.
“What is important now is reducing the carbon dioxide in the natural gas itself through the use of a number of technologies such as carbon capture and storage,” Ueda said.
Energy companies have been relying on natural gas as “reliable power dispatch” to meet demand, said Maví Zingoni, power chief executive of GE Vernova, an energy equipment manufacturing and services company.
“And, in the long term, we need to make sure that we don’t abandon the process of decarbonizing the entire electricity system,” Zingoni said.
Olivier Le Peuch, chief executive of SLB, the world’s largest offshore drilling company, said achieving this goal would be “very complex” and “takes time”, stressing that the company would need to balance technology, energy and cooperation with other companies to achieve this goal.
“Balance is the key word. We need to have a balance so that we address safety, affordability and sustainability at the same time,” Le Peuch said.
So, where are we in the energy transition? Watch highlights from the panel moderated by CNBC’s Dan Murphy in the video above.
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