This story was originally published in the Guardian, and is reproduced as part of Climate Desk’s collaboration. The world’s fossil fuel producers are on course to quadruple their oil and gas extraction from newly approved projects before the end of the decade. The US is leading the charge in this surge of activity.
[[{“value”:”This article was first published by the Guardian, and it is now available these as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
A new report has revealed that the world’s fossil fuel producers are on track to almost quadruple the amount of oil and gas extracted from previously approved projects by the end of the decade. The US is leading the charge in this surge of activity that threatens to sever all agreed climate goals.
There can be no new oil and gas infrastructure if the planet is to avoid careering past 1.5 degrees Celsius ( 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit ) of global heating, above pre- industrial times, the International Energy Agency ( IEA ) has previously stated. Breaching this warming threshold, agreed to by governments in the Paris climate agreement, will see previously worsening effects such as heatwaves, floods, drought and more, scientists have warned.
Countries and big fossil fuel companies have forged ahead with a glut of new oil and gas activity since the IEA’s declaration in 2021, though. According to the most recent report from Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based NGO, at least 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent of new oil and gas have been discovered for potential drilling.
Next year, at least 20 oil and gas fields were readied and approved for extraction following discovery, sanctioning the removal of 8 billion barrels of oil equivalent. By the end of this decade, the report found, the fossil- fuel industry aims to sanction almost four times this amount—31 billion barrels of oil equivalent—across 64 more new oil and gas fields.
The US, which has produced more crude oil than any other country has previously produced for the previous six years in a row, set the stage for new oil and gas projects in 2022 and 2023, according to the report. In the Americas, Guyana came in second place, with 40 % of all new oil regulated in the previous two years.
” The science is obvious: no new oil and gas fields, or the planet gets pushed past what it can handle”.
The inability to perhaps somewhat stifle the development of new oil and gas risks a deadly blow to the already fragile hopes of the world remaining below 1.5 degrees Celsius, a temperature that scientists predict will be overturned in ten years.
It comes as big oil and gas companies fail to meet or exceed their own goals to reduce global warming emissions. At a new industry conference in Texas, the boss of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, said people” should abandon the fantasy” of phasing out oil and gas.
The industry continues to discover and approve new projects despite the frequent and explicit warnings that no new oil and gas fields are compatible with 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to Scott Zimmerman, project manager of the global oil and gas extraction tracker at Global Energy Monitor. ” It’s disappointing. It demonstrates a lack of commitment from the supply side to the climate goals.
The already-active oil and gas infrastructure will be sufficient to raise the temperature beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius, and the anticipated additional activities will just increase this. A total of 45 projects have been fully sanctioned, with 16 billion barrels of oil equivalent, since the 2021 IEA report, according to the new report, which is almost certainly an undercount of coming emissions as it does n’t include “unconventional” extraction, such as fracking.
With the recent discoveries, the US has maintained its oil and gas heavyweight status, but hominid fuel producers are now focusing on new markets for their production, with South America and Africa emerging as potential hotspots for future projects.
Of the 22 countries with major oil and gas discoveries in the past two years, four – Cyprus, Guyana, Namibia and Zimbabwe – accounted for more than a third of discoveries, despite having produced little or no oil and gas until recently.
The largest single discovery made in the past two years is the Shahini gas field in Iran, which is said to contain 623 billion cubic meters of gas. TotalEnergies ‘ Venus project in Namibia is next, which is also noteworthy. The Kodiak project in Alaska, overseen by Pantheon Resources, is the second largest new prospective oil and gas field.
” Oil and gas producers have provided all kinds of justifications for continuing to mine and develop innovative fields,” said Zimmerman. ” The science is obvious: no new oil and gas fields, or the planet gets pushed past what it can handle”.”}]] The Guardian previously published this story, which is available these as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. By the end of this decade, the US will be the world’s fossil fuel producers, leading the charge in a surge of activity that will almost quadruple the amount of oil and gas extracted from previously approved projects.
This story was originally published in the Guardian, and is reproduced as part of Climate Desk’s collaboration. The world’s fossil fuel producers are on course to quadruple their oil and gas extraction from newly approved projects before the end of the decade. The US is leading the charge in this surge of activity.
“The silencing of the lambs.” I am not sure what the original text means, so I cannot provide an accurate paraphrase.
