With just 19 industrial-scale CCUS projects deployed in the world, the technology needs to transform in scale to significantly assist climate change mandates. The US National Petroleum Council’s report “Meeting the Dual Challenge: A Roadmap to At-Scale Development of CCUS,” identified several areas of improvement, from policy reforms and financial incentives, infrastructure development, and technology R&D to cost-reduction for capture, compression and transport, use, storage, and EOR, as well as education and confidence in the technology. Scaling up and reducing costs of CCUS globally will be a challenge. What is the outlook for technological innovation to change the game on CCUS? Where should policy makers’ efforts be directed first to accelerate scaling it up? Who are the other key players needed to ensure progress? What role should the oil and gas industry play?
E&P players have focused on exploiting maturing basins in recent years, as lower commodity prices favor existing operations and known petroleum systems that may offer lower-cost production and application of innovative practices and new technologies. Maturing basins in many cases offer significant upside in conventional and unconventional resource exploitation and exploration. Such basins can provide a mix of investment opportunities to suit all, with smaller, short-cycle and brownfield investments and traditional greenfield projects. What are the key technical or commercial ingredients for success in developing maturing basins? What parameters drive the attractiveness of maturing basins within the portfolio of a major E&P company or for a new entrant, in a price and carbon-constrained world? How best to innovate to exploit the basins and fields as they start to decline? Does that phase require new ownership and operating practices?
The upstream oil & gas sector needs to convince investors that it can provide sustainable, profitable growth against a backdrop of low commodity prices and low returns in recent years, while also adopting low-carbon strategies in response to the energy transition. While the upstream industry has significantly reduced cost through operational and technological innovation and portfolio refocusing, and has also shown that lowering carbon emissions is an industry priority, what more can it provide to investors to ensure investment? What are the main levers available to upstream industry players to transform operational performance and profitability, while lowering emissions? How can the industry demonstrate progress to align with investor expectations?