(Glasgow) Some 95% of oil and gas producers are exploring or planning to develop new hydrocarbon reserves, according to a report produced by the German NGO Urgewald and 20 partner NGOs, published Thursday in the middle of the UN climate conference .
Half of this new production is also based on the exploitation of unconventional oil and gas (shale, tar sands, drilling in the Arctic, in very deep water, etc.), points out this Global Oil and Gas Exit List (GOGEL), which analyzes the investment plans of 887 companies representing nearly 95% of world hydrocarbon production.
This observation comes as appeals in the name of the climate multiply to turn away from fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency (IEA) stresses that, to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 and keep global warming at +1.5 ° C, the world must immediately abandon any new project.
The continued growth of the sector is accompanied by transport infrastructure projects, the report notes: 211,849 km of oil and gas pipelines are under development, “half the distance between the Earth and the Moon”.
Currently planned liquefied gas (LNG) terminal projects would double global LNG capacity, adds the report, which claims to be the first comprehensive public database on the oil and gas industry, on the same model as the list on oil and gas industry. active coal (GCEL), produced by Urgewald and has become a tool also for finance.
The big oil companies are among “the most aggressive expansionists”, underline Friends of the Earth France and Reclaim Finance, which took part in the study.
A Canadian oil company in the list
The study mentions Canadian Natural Resources, active in the oil sands of Alberta and in fracking. Fifteen multinationals concentrate more than 50% of the production expansion planned in the short term.
The associations call on governments and financial players to use this tool to end all support for the expansion of fossil fuels.
“It will now be very easy for banks, insurers and investors to sort between greenwashing and the real transition plans for oil and gas companies,” said Alix Mazounie, campaign manager at Reclaim Finance.
With La Presse