Gulf of Mexico ‘critical part of global energy story’ for Talos CEO

Houston-based oil and gas company Talos Energy has published its second annual environmental, social and governance (ESG) report and the firm’s CEO used the occasion to portray the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast as a ‘critical part of the global energy story’ due to hydrocarbon resources situated in the area, which could be developed with one of the lowest global emissions footprints.

Talos Energy published its second annual ESG report on Monday, highlighting the firm’s continued environmental, health and safety focus, positive impacts on communities and employees and solid governance practices.

Timothy S. Duncan, Talos President and Chief Executive Officer, remarked: “We believe the Gulf of Mexico and Gulf Coast is a critical part of the global energy story – it is a basin where critical resources that fuel our daily lives can be developed safely and with one of the lowest emissions footprints in the world. Our employees are extremely proud of the contents of this report from our safety and environmental track record to our community involvement and the culture we have created as a Top Workplace for nine straight years.”

The ESG report outlines the company established a long-term target of 30 per cent greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) intensity reduction by 2025 from the 2018 baseline and more recently added a 40 per cent reduction stretch target.

In addition, Talos confirms it operated for over 1,000 days without an offshore release of more than one barrel, resulting in zero hydrocarbon releases greater than one barrel, thus, less than three-fourths of one barrel were released from over 23 million gross operated barrels of oil equivalent (MMBoe) produced.

The firm reported three million man-hours worked with a 50 per cent and 9 per cent reduction in total recordable incident rates (TRIR) and lost time incident rates (LTIR), respectively, from the 2018 baseline.

Talos was named a Houston Chronicle Top Workplace for the ninth consecutive year in a row and the company also enhanced and renamed the Board of Directors’ Safety Committee to the Safety, Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Committee to allow for greater oversight and management of ESG efforts, including climate-related risks and opportunities.

The firm also increased the weighting of ESG-related performance on management’s annual incentive plan to 20 per cent of the total.

“We have evolved from one of the top independent energy producers in the Gulf of Mexico to a total energy solutions company focused on both energy production and industrial carbon capture and sequestration and we are excited about the role we will play going forward in the future of our industry,” concluded Duncan.

In line with its strategy for the future, Talos increased its liquidity, added an additional lender, and expanded financing flexibility for energy transition opportunities – including carbon capture and storage (CCS) – through a successful semi-annual borrowing base redetermination completed last week.