Organised by IOGP, six oil and gas industry CEOs plus two of their representatives met recently with Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans and Commissioner Kadri Simson to discuss the oil and gas industry’s transformation and its role in helping the EU reach climate neutrality by 2050.
The meeting covered a broad range of topics including low-emission domestic oil and gas production, the enabling role of gas in the transition, investments in charging points and the electricity system overall, large-scale clean hydrogen production, Petrochemicals, and European Carbon Capture and Storage projects.
The Vice-President and Commissioner laid down the EU’s strategic priorities, acknowledged the European oil and gas industry’s emission reduction efforts and increasing involvement in clean energy solutions, while at the same time calling upon the sector to accelerate and continue in this direction, especially in key areas such as hydrogen, CCS and charging points for EVs, as it plans for the long term.
“This was a very open and constructive exchange, it brought clarity on the way forward to both parties” said François-Régis Mouton, IOGP Regional Director Europe. “In this post COVID crisis time, the EU is put to the test on both the climate and economic fronts, that’s why we came with a list of solutions ready to be deployed to help deliver on both objectives. The only thing we asked for is an open-minded policy framework that gives us a fair chance to reach them both” Mouton concluded.
The Commission indicated its readiness to discuss ways to scale up technologies essential on the way to carbon neutrality, in particular clean hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage. EVP Timmermans also insisted on the need to start a dialogue with industrial sectors undergoing transformations, including oil and gas but also steel and car manufacturing, among others.
