Fossil Fuel Industry Leadership Intends To Stay As “Oily” As Possible Until Forced To Change

CERAWeek, an annual energy conference held in Houston from March 6th to 10th this year, has provided insight into the intent of those leading the fossil fuel industry to remain fully invested in oil and natural gas for the foreseeable future. And politicians in attendance from Washington, DC, intend to support them. Even President Biden appears to be behind the industry with the press reporting the imminent approval of a major oil drilling project in Alaska.

Two top fossil fuel executives in interviews and speeches at CERAWeek were said to have used the Apollo 13 phrase, “Houston, we have a problem,” in describing the current state of their industry in light of climate change, supply-chain disruptions, and the continuing Russian-Ukraine war.

Mike Wirth, CEO of Chevron, was the first to speak at the conference. He set the tone describing the transition to a low-carbon future as “one of the greatest challenges of all time,” and warned that what lies ahead may be “chaotic” and “painful.”

Wirth went on to state, “We have to be very careful about turning system A off prematurely and depending on a system that doesn’t yet exist and hasn’t been proven.” The system A he was referring to is the one to which Wirth is most comfortable, continuing the status quo. Through the chaos and pain of the last year, his company turned a record-high profit of $36.5 billion US. And Chevron wasn’t alone in reporting record profits for oil and natural gas producers.

Liam Mallon, in upstream oil and gas at ExxonMobil, told a CERAWeek audience that individual countries need to deal with their energy transitions in different ways. Mallon called on government policymakers to work with the fossil fuel industry to create a roadmap to a low-carbon economic future.

Meanwhile, Mallon’s boss, Darren Woods, the CEO, expressed that his company didn’t have to reduce fossil fuel production at all. He noted it just had to deal with “emissions” which was “the issue the world needs to address.” 

Mike Sommers. President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, the largest U.S. oil and natural gas industry trade association, echoed Wirth and Mallon’s positions noting that delivering energy to Americans involved three critical factors. The energy had to be affordable, reliable and clean. The third of these Sommers noted seemed to have taken precedence over the first two which in his opinion was a big mistake.

Rick Muncrief of Devon Energy was more plain-spoken stating “Our strategy is to stay as oily as we can for as long as we can.”

Jack Fusco, CEO of Cheniere Energy, chimed in saying his company was doubling down on natural gas noting “it’s here to stay.” Cheniere is the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer in the U.S. today.

Toby Rice, CEO of EQT, a gas producer and exporter said his company is supporting the “biggest green initiative” on the planet by sending natural gas to Asia to get them to stop burning coal.

And then there were comments from Amos Hochstein, the U.S. Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security, who reiterated the same theme noting that “unplugging from one energy system and creating a whole other one” could be problematic and would represent the biggest change the world had seen in the last 100 years.

UN Calls For Game-Changing Action from the Fossil Fuel Industry

In a February speech to the General Assembly, UN Secretary-General, António Guterres called for an end to the “bottomless greed of the fossil fuel industry and its enablers,” an end to “greenwashing, baby steps and excuses.”

Guterres continued, “We must focus on two urgent priorities: cutting emissions and achieving climate justice. Global emissions must be halved this decade. That means far more ambitious action to cut carbon pollution by speeding up the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy, especially in G20 countries.” 

“If you cannot set a credible course for net zero, with 2025 and 2030 targets covering all your operations, you should not be in business. Your core product is our core problem. We need a renewables revolution, not a self-destructive fossil fuel resurgence.” 

CERAWeek attendees seemed to be oblivious to the Secretary-General’s call for action. Instead, it appears the industry intends to stay as “oily” as possible for as long as possible.

Robert Schuwerk, at Carbon Tracker, a climate-focused think tank, after listening to the speakers at CERAWeek noted that “the magnitude of the problem is not being fully ingested.” He describes the industry’s fixation on technical fixes like carbon capture or producing hydrogen from natural gas, rather than looking at reducing fossil fuel production, electrification, renewables, and energy conservation.