Energy industry leaders bullish about gas prospects at Gastech
Industry leaders speaking at Gastech remain bullish about prospects for the gas market despite its conflict with climate goals.
(Milan, Italy) — Industry leaders speaking at the Gastech conference in MIlan remain bullish about the prospects for natural gas despite its incompatibility with climate goals, amid growing AI-related demand.
Shell is predicting LNG demand will grow 60% by 2040 from current levels, its president of integrated gas, Cederic Cremers said.
Speaking at a panel on the rise of gas as a reliable and flexible energy source, he said gas consumption was set to rise in non-power sectors such as transport, industry and residential and commercial heating as well.
A fifth of shareholders challenged Shell’s LNG-focused strategy at the company’s Annual General meeting in May, saying this was incompatible with climate goals.
Questioned about it during the panel, Cremers insisted gas has a place in the energy transition as it can help countries move away from coal. He also cited CCS as a key tool to help decarbonise gas, adding that reducing methane emissions was a key target for the industry in the near term.
Engineering company Baker Hughes sees natural gas growing “for the next two decades” while “new technologies come on stream,” its CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said.
He said that despite concerns about oversupply, the market appears to be self-correcting amid a “record (number) of off-take agreements” being signed in recent months.
“We believe in gas in the short, medium and long term,” Freeman Shaheen, president of Chevron Global Gas said.
The company is diversifying production through assets in the Middle East, West Africa, Angola, Nigeria, Argentina and the U.S.
Both Jack Fusco, president and CEO of Cheniere, and Musabbeh al Kaabi, CEO of Upstream at ADNOC, said they expected their gas business to expand in the coming two decades and possibly beyond.
Eni’s COO of natural resources, Guido Brusco said the company is pursuing a dual strategy of growing its renewable business while still developing its E&P business.
In a recent interview with the FT, Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi said that profits from its green businesses will rival those from oil and gas within a decade.
At the same time, both fossil fuels and renewables must be developed in the near-term to address growing energy demand, Brusco said.
In the upstream segment, Eni is developing projects in different geographies, including Africa, the Middle East and the U.S.
Brusco also mentioned CCS as a viable decarbonisation tool, and spoke of the growing role of biofuels amid sector mandates, such the Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) one.
(Writing by Beatrice Bedeschi; editing by Sophie Davies)