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As petroleum-free future looms, oil companies eye investing in renewables
Petroleum producers are looking for off-ramps to take them off the petrol and diesel highway and turn to renewable sources, both as a survival tactic in a world of petroleum-free transportation and as a gesture to the vociferous climate change chorus.
“Oil firms are essentially attempting to figure out how the best presently available cash cow in the world can be replaced for the benefit of their own sustainable future,” Matthias J Pickl, an economics professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia, was quoted in NS Energy.
Oil majors are “progressively positioning themselves for the proclaimed energy transition” and wind and solar are taking an increasingly important role in the energy industry, he has written according to NS Energy.
In India, the Reliance conglomerate with a giant petroleum footprint has announced plans for a New Energy ecosystem making solar, wind, batteries, hydrogen, and bio-energy platforms. Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani has committed INR 750 billion for this transformation.
Total, the French oil company, announced this year that it will invest USD 300 million in a joint venture with Adani Green Energy in wind and solar farms project. This year, Total says it will be investing USD 5 billion overall in low-carbon energies, which would be higher than its capital investments in oil and gas.
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