The leaders of three of the largest oil and gas producers in the world said carbon capture and storage projects will be central to their business.

Speaking on a panel, the heads of Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (Aramco), Exxon Mobil Corp. and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) affirmed that capturing and storing carbon emissions will allow them to continue to produce proven energy products like oil and natural gas while reducing the carbon count.

CNPC Vice Chairman and President Hou Qijun, speaking through an interpreter at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, Alberta, on Sept. 18, said society's transition to low-carbon energy is important. He ticked off the variety of low-carbon projects that CNPC will use to integrate renewable energy production with fossil fuels. But Hou emphasized that oil and gas producers cannot slash production without harming the billion or more people in the world living in energy poverty.

"The overall principle is you need to build the new before destroying the old, and the most important part of using the new is while maintaining a stable and secure supply of hydrocarbon products," Hou said to hundreds of oil and gas executives. "While transitioning towards green and low-carbon energies, we must also bear in mind the necessity of socioeconomic development, and [we] see households of millions of people without a stable supply of energy."

Carbon capture development

Amin Nasser, president and CEO of the world's largest oil producer, Saudi Aramco, said the world will need to speed up and scale up carbon capture technology to meet the climate targets. "I'd say approximately 120 times more assets than what we have today," Nasser said.

Building and operating carbon storage facilities will provide the immediate benefit of lowering costs while capitalizing on the industry's knowledge and experience, Nasser said.

Fossil fuels and renewables

Darren Woods, chairman and CEO of supermajor Exxon, said the thinking on how to reduce carbon emissions has moved away from what he described as a narrow focus on wind and solar.

"You need a much broader approach and a more broadly recognized solution set that involves molecules [of oil and gas], carbon capture and storage ... which are areas in which frankly the industry has a lot of experience, and we can bring a skill set uniquely to this problem and help advance reduction in emissions across the world."

"Our position is that it's got to be a demand equation," Woods said. "One where we continue to produce fuels needed for today's system, given the incredibly important role that affordable and secure energy plays in economic growth, to people's prosperity, and then at the same time work to develop technologies to grow businesses that reduce emissions."

"We've been very focused on trying to demonstrate we can do both," Woods said.

Exxon plans to buy enhanced oil recovery operator Denbury Inc. for just under $5 billion. Denbury uses CO₂ to flood old wells, "enhancing" the amount of oil recovered. Denbury's CO₂ transportation system, anchored in Louisiana, could provide the basic building blocks for Exxon's Low Carbon Solutions unit to develop a carbon capture and storage system near the Gulf of Mexico.

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