Abstract

The point of view of an oil and gas company

The climate change challenge requires more intelligent use of energy resources and substantial spending on innovative technologies. It will also create growth opportunities. This presentation will describe the strategy implemented by an oil and gas company, Total, in order to deal with these constraints and opportunities. Total's climate change strategy is built in four directions.

  1. Decreasing the flaring of associated gas from oil production. Flaring needs to be scaled back in order to capture a valuable energy resource whenever possible and to mitigate its environmental and climate impact. Examples will illustrate how the Upstream division of Total deals with this issue on new projects as well as on producing assets.

  2. Improving energy efficiency requires action at every level, including industrial processes, power generation, transportation, construction, and less energy-intensive products and services. The presentation will show how this is implemented in the different divisions of Total (Exploration and Production, Refining and Marketing, Petrochemicals and Gas and New Energies) and will include relevant examples. It will also describe how Total is helping its customers to decrease their environmental footprints.

  3. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) could significantly reduce energy-related carbon dioxide emissions between now and 2050. The actions undertaken by Total on this matter, among which the Lacq pilot project, and the development perspectives which will impact the company's core business activities will be presented.

  4. Renewable energies encompass a wide array of resources that will be able to meet varied demand. The involvement of Total in solar energy, nuclear energy and biomass will be shown.

For each of these directions, the impact of the actions implemented by company in terms of technology transfer to emerging countries will be illustrated.

This presentation will show that an upstream company can rely on a wide range of tools in order to cope with climate change for itself and its customers, and at the same time keeps its ambitions in terms of growth and profitability. It will also show how these actions can impact climate change issues well beyond the strict perimeter of the company.

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