Oil-producing countries with growing populations and developing economies will struggle to heed the IEA's advice that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 will require limiting new upstream developments, producers from several such countries said today.
"Frankly speaking, no we do not intend to follow those kinds of directions," chief engineering director Carlos Travassos with Brazil's state-controlled Petrobras said on a panel at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, Alberta. "The energy transition must have different stages for each country."
Brazil expects to produce 4.7mn b/d of oil by 2027, up from about 3.8mn b/d now, but is also ramping up investment in carbon reduction and alternative energies.
Oil companies and governments of developing countries have complained that particularly western European countries and the US — which produce a significantly larger global share of emissions — are trying to impose a one-size-fits-all approach to reducing CO2.
Even beyond the economics, the social impact of ending new exploration in terms of supplying secure, affordable energy to Brazil's own population would be too great, Travassos said.
In addition, Petrobras' steps to decrease emissions from its operations mean that taking its own production offline would simply increase emissions globally if a producer with a higher carbon footprint steps in to meet a demand gap.
Ending greenfield oil and natural gas production would be "almost like suicide," Osvaldo Inacio, a board member with
Angola's state-owned producer Sonangol, said on the panel focused on energy security. "We are not in a position to answer that call."
Although Angola produces about 1.1mn b/d, it continues to be net importer of refined products, Inacio said.
The government is pushing to increase its refining capacity to supply both the country and region, and "if we were to stop sanctioning additional upstream projects or activity, that means literally we wouldn't have any oil to go through the refineries that are being built."
Indonesia's Pertamina, which supplies the country of about 274mn people throughout a territory stretching across 17,000 islands, also cannot afford to stop producing, but at the same is pushing its carbon-reduction efforts.
"Indonesia put energy security, supply and affordability as our first priorities, but we also work to reduce carbon emissions," Pertamina's chief executive Nicke Widyawati said.
Indonesia's efforts have included recently moving to a mandate of 35pc biodiesel, along with projects for renewable energy and carbon capture. Each country must contribute, but in a fair way, she added.
"We can say we have one finish line," Widyawati said. "But we all have different starting points."
