一家石油公司从化石燃料向清洁能源转型,需要花费多少?初始费用为数百亿,而后续还要投入更多。
在新冠疫情的冲击下,以及为了达成到2050年实现“净零”排放的长期承诺,即尽可能减少温室气体排放量,并采取措施抵消其余的排放量,英国能源巨头英国石油公司于上周一进行了初步的成本评估,包括资产价值减记,以及停止开采部分现有资源等。
英国石油发表声明称,第一轮估算出的非现金减值费用和冲销预计在130亿美元至175亿美元之间,而进一步的信息将在该公司的第二季度财报中提供,预计将于8月初发布。该公司还表示,正在调整对其产品长期价格的预期,并对其勘探资产进行评估。换言之,该公司正在评估是否要在其未开发的地点钻探石油。该公司的首席执行官伯纳德•鲁尼的裁员公告则稍早于这一声明。本月早些时候,他曾宣布,为了削减支出,并推动其向低碳公司的转型,公司将在年内裁员约1万名员工。
由于新冠疫情的第二轮感染引发了投资者的恐慌,上周一伦敦午盘,英国石油公司的股价下跌3.5%;开盘时下跌了5%。布伦特原油价格下跌2.28%,达到了38.15美元。
英国石油在今年2月中旬,即鲁尼接任首席执行官一职后不久,首次发布了该公司净零排放计划的具体内容。当时,该计划的细节并不多,鲁尼承诺将在9月前披露更多内容,以详细说明这一全球大型石油和天然气公司将如何彻底实现业务转型。
那之后,全球新冠疫情的大流行甚至颠覆了该行业的经济状况。到4月,由于世界上的大部分地区进入封锁状态,能源需求大幅下降,尤其是运输燃料的需求量锐减,一度导致油价跌至负值,并引发了从得克萨斯州油田到沙特阿拉伯的成本削减浪潮。尽管随着经济重启,能源需求正在复苏,但国际能源机构预测,今年全球石油需求将出现创纪录的下降。
鲁尼在一份声明中表示,这只是“重申了”公司实现净零排放的新兴战略。此前他曾表明,油价下跌导致公司“每天损失数百万美元”。
这一初步的成本评估也可能预示着其他欧洲能源巨头的未来,这些公司近几个月来已经承诺实现净零排放目标。其中包括西班牙的雷普索尔、法国的道达尔公司以及全球最大的上市能源公司荷兰皇家壳牌。壳牌于今年4月承诺实现这一目标。
这也说明,欧洲大型企业与美国竞争对手之间的战略分歧日益加深。美国的有关企业还没有承诺实现像这样雄心勃勃的减排目标。美国最大的上市公司埃克森美孚曾经表示,它会致力于达成巴黎气候协定的要求,在本世纪控制住气温的上升幅度,但对如何实现这一目标几乎没有给出具体的细节。与此相反,该公司的首席执行官达伦•伍兹大体上坚持一个长期预测,即新兴经济体的中产阶级将会增多,因此在未来几十年内,石油和天然气的需求量将会增加。(财富中文网)
译者:Claire
一家石油公司从化石燃料向清洁能源转型,需要花费多少?初始费用为数百亿,而后续还要投入更多。
在新冠疫情的冲击下,以及为了达成到2050年实现“净零”排放的长期承诺,即尽可能减少温室气体排放量,并采取措施抵消其余的排放量,英国能源巨头英国石油公司于上周一进行了初步的成本评估,包括资产价值减记,以及停止开采部分现有资源等。
英国石油发表声明称,第一轮估算出的非现金减值费用和冲销预计在130亿美元至175亿美元之间,而进一步的信息将在该公司的第二季度财报中提供,预计将于8月初发布。该公司还表示,正在调整对其产品长期价格的预期,并对其勘探资产进行评估。换言之,该公司正在评估是否要在其未开发的地点钻探石油。该公司的首席执行官伯纳德•鲁尼的裁员公告则稍早于这一声明。本月早些时候,他曾宣布,为了削减支出,并推动其向低碳公司的转型,公司将在年内裁员约1万名员工。
由于新冠疫情的第二轮感染引发了投资者的恐慌,上周一伦敦午盘,英国石油公司的股价下跌3.5%;开盘时下跌了5%。布伦特原油价格下跌2.28%,达到了38.15美元。
英国石油在今年2月中旬,即鲁尼接任首席执行官一职后不久,首次发布了该公司净零排放计划的具体内容。当时,该计划的细节并不多,鲁尼承诺将在9月前披露更多内容,以详细说明这一全球大型石油和天然气公司将如何彻底实现业务转型。
那之后,全球新冠疫情的大流行甚至颠覆了该行业的经济状况。到4月,由于世界上的大部分地区进入封锁状态,能源需求大幅下降,尤其是运输燃料的需求量锐减,一度导致油价跌至负值,并引发了从得克萨斯州油田到沙特阿拉伯的成本削减浪潮。尽管随着经济重启,能源需求正在复苏,但国际能源机构预测,今年全球石油需求将出现创纪录的下降。
鲁尼在一份声明中表示,这只是“重申了”公司实现净零排放的新兴战略。此前他曾表明,油价下跌导致公司“每天损失数百万美元”。
这一初步的成本评估也可能预示着其他欧洲能源巨头的未来,这些公司近几个月来已经承诺实现净零排放目标。其中包括西班牙的雷普索尔、法国的道达尔公司以及全球最大的上市能源公司荷兰皇家壳牌。壳牌于今年4月承诺实现这一目标。
这也说明,欧洲大型企业与美国竞争对手之间的战略分歧日益加深。美国的有关企业还没有承诺实现像这样雄心勃勃的减排目标。美国最大的上市公司埃克森美孚曾经表示,它会致力于达成巴黎气候协定的要求,在本世纪控制住气温的上升幅度,但对如何实现这一目标几乎没有给出具体的细节。与此相反,该公司的首席执行官达伦•伍兹大体上坚持一个长期预测,即新兴经济体的中产阶级将会增多,因此在未来几十年内,石油和天然气的需求量将会增加。(财富中文网)
译者:Claire
How much does it cost for an oil company to transform from fossil fuels to clean energy? Start in the tens of billions, and keep going.
BP, the British energy giant, began to set out initial cost estimates on Monday, including the write-down of assets and the decision to not exploit some existing resources, as the company grapples with both the immediate hit of the coronavirus pandemic and its long-term commitment to reach “net zero” emissions by 2050—a goal of pushing emissions as low as possible and offsetting the rest.
The first round of write-downs and impairment charges are expected to equal between $13 billion and $17.5 billion, to be finalized when the company announces its second-quarter results in early August, BP said in a release. It also said it was revising its forecasts for the long-term price value of its products and undergoing a review of its exploration assets—in other words, whether it will drill for oil in its unexploited sites. That announcement comes on the heels of CEO Bernard Looney’s announcement earlier this month that the company will lay off nearly 10,000 employees by the end of the year, in order to preserve cash and as part of its transition to becoming a “low carbon” company.
On Monday at noon in London, BP shares were down 3.5%; it opened down 5%. The Brent crude price was down 2.28% at $38.15, as fears of a second wave of COVID-19 pandemics spooked investors.
The announcement marks the first set of concrete details on how the company plans to meet its “net zero” target, announced in mid-February, nearly immediately after Looney took over as CEO. The specifics of the plan were sparse at the time, and Looney committed to providing more details by September on exactly how one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies would completely transform its business.
Since then, the global COVID-19 pandemic has overturned even the sector’s status quo economics. Demand plunged as much of the world went into lockdown by April, eviscerating the need for transport fuels, in particular. The plunge briefly caused oil prices to hit negative territory and spurred a wave of cost cutting from Texas oilfields to Saudi Arabia. Even with energy demand recovering as economies have reopened, the International Energy Agency predicts that this year will mark a record drop in global oil demand.
That has only “reaffirmed” the company’s emerging strategy on how to hit net zero, Looney said in a release, after noting in an earlier announcement that the drop in oil prices had resulted in the company losing “millions of dollars, every day.”
The initial cost estimates could also be a sign of what’s to come for a slate of other European energy giants that have committed to hitting net zero targets in recent months. Those include Spain’s Repsol, France’s Total, and Royal Dutch Shell, the world’s largest publicly traded energy company, which committed to the goal in April.
It also underlines a growing rift between the strategies of the largest European companies and their American rivals, where no such commitments have been made on the same ambitious scale. Exxon Mobil, the largest publicly traded U.S. company, has said it is committed to meeting the Paris Agreement to limit rising temperatures this century, but has given few specifics on how it will do so. Instead, CEO Darren Woods has largely kept to a long-term forecast that the middle class will grow in emerging economies, increasing the demand for oil and gas for decades to come.