ExxonMobil CEO rejects IEA criticism of carbon capture strategy By Reuters

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, reacts during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, USA, November 15, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

DUBAI (Reuters) – ExxonMobil (NYSE:) CEO Darren Woods on Saturday rejected the International Energy Agency’s recent claim that using large-scale carbon capture to fight climate change is an implausible “fantasy,” and said that electric vehicles and solar energy He said the same thing about .

“There is currently no solution at scale that can solve the problem,” Woods told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai.

“So today you can talk about carbon capture, you can talk about electric vehicles, you can talk about wind, you can talk about solar. First of all, I think the criticism of everything we’re trying to do is justified,” he said.

Although few carbon capture projects are commercially viable due to their high costs, EVs now account for about 13% of the global new car market, and solar and wind power deployments are rapidly expanding.

Woods’ appearance marked the first time that the CEO of fossil fuel giant Exxon has attended the annual United Nations-sponsored climate summit, and was a gathering of oil and gas companies around the world seeking to reshape themselves as part of the solution to global warming. It reflected increasing efforts. I am against the cause.

Carbon capture technology and the future role of fossil fuels are key issues at the conference.

The IEA, a Western energy watchdog, released a report on November 27 ahead of the COP28 conference, saying the fossil fuel industry is facing a “moment of truth” where producers must either deepen the climate crisis or switch to cleaner industries. energy.

The report criticized oil and gas companies for claiming that drilling can continue indefinitely as long as emissions from combustion are cleaned up, saying the industry is maintaining “the illusion that capturing incredibly large amounts of carbon is the solution.”

Exxon has announced a $17 billion investment in low-carbon businesses, including carbon capture, and has argued that greenhouse gas emissions, not fossil fuels themselves, are the problem causing climate change.

He said he believed oil and gas would play a “significant role” in the world by 2050, but did not provide an estimate of the level of demand.

As part of Exxon’s low-carbon strategy, the company announced in July that it was acquiring Denbury and its 1,300-mile (2,100 km) carbon dioxide pipeline network for $4.9 billion. The pipeline will connect to an offshore block in the Gulf of Mexico where Exxon plans to bury it. carbon.

Exxon has so far persuaded the nation’s largest ammonia manufacturer, an industrial gas company and a large steel company to sign long-term contracts for carbon abatement services that would cover about 5 million tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Currently, energy and industry produce approximately 37 billion tons of CO2 per year globally.

Woods declined to provide contract details, but said U.S. subsidies of up to $85 per ton for carbon capture and sequestration in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act would make investments more profitable.

“We’re essentially helping our customers decarbonize and take advantage of the tax credits,” Woods said.

He added that making money from the deal “will probably take years.”

___

Subscribe to Reuters Sustainable for comprehensive daily coverage of COP28 in your inbox. switch (NYSE:) Newsletter is here.