BP: Oil & gas will be in global energy system for decades

Hydrocarbons such as oil and gas will have an ongoing role to play in the energy mix for years, BP’s Chief Executive Bernard Looney said, Report informs referring to CNBC.

“It may not be popular to say that oil and gas is going to be in the energy system for decades to come but that is the reality,” BP’s Chief Executive Bernard Looney told CNBC.

“What I want us to do is to focus on the objective - and I wish we had less ideological positions and more focus on the objective - which in this case is to drive emissions down.”

He said that replacing coal with natural gas, thereby reducing carbon emissions, “has to be a good thing.”

“And then over time we will decarbonize that natural gas,” he said, speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the ADIPEC energy industry forum in Abu Dhabi.

BP’s Looney highlighted that the International Energy Agency’s “Net Zero” report in May noted that, in 2050, global oil supply “in the net zero pathway” would still amount to around 20 million barrels per day,

“So any objective person ... is going to say that hydrocarbons have a role to play, the question then becomes: what do you do about that? And you try to produce those hydrocarbons in the best way possible,” Looney added.

BP’s Looney said he had concerns over supply when it comes to the energy transition, saying that if supplies of oil and gas are lowered, prices will go up, hitting consumers hard.

“High prices are not good for consumers and consumers ... I worry that this could have the perverse effect of actually turning people against the [energy] transition,” he said.