BP PLC was one of the most responsible companies for burning unwanted natural gas in the busiest oil field in the United States. Now he’s trying to clean up his act.
The British oil giant plans to spend about $ 1.3 billion to build a massive network of pipelines and other infrastructure to collect and capture natural gas produced as a by-product from oil wells in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico. He plans to announce on Monday that he will eliminate the routine burning of natural gas in the oil field by 2025.
BP’s investment reflects the growing pressure facing large oil companies from regulators, investors and natural gas buyers to reduce the carbon footprint of fossil fuels and their contributions to climate change.
BP has pledged to reinvent itself as a cleaner energy company, saying it will let oil and gas fuel production fall by 40% by 2030 and eventually sell more renewable energy than oil, reducing at the same time net carbon emissions at zero. But to finance its ambitious transformation, BP relies on continuous revenues from oil and gas production.
“We will be producing oil and gas for decades, but it will be a certain type of oil and gas,” said Dave Lawler, president of BP America Inc. “It’s an extremely profitable barrel and it’s a responsibly produced barrel.”