In focus: Energy transition reels in more oil & gas majors as coal power producer enters offshore renewables market

Another week has gone by not leaving us wanting on energy transition developments, as several updates on renewable energy, clean fuels, decarbonisation, and net-zero strategies made headlines – most notably those from the traditionally fossil fuel-oriented players.

We kicked-off on Monday, 11 October, with news from Qatar’s state-owned oil and gas company, Qatar Petroleum, which had changed its name to be in line with a new strategy focused on energy transition.

Now called QatarEnergy, the company also boasts a new slogan: “Your energy transition partner”.

According to Qatari newspaper The Peninsula, the change reflects the company’s new strategy that will focus on energy efficiency and environment-friendly technology such as CO2 sequestration.

Russia’s gas giant Gazprom, together with the Russian Federation, has also unveiled new developments in the energy transition arena.

On 13 October, the company and the government signed a letter of intent aimed at accelerating the advancement of natural gas-based technologies in the area of hydrogen energy and setting up pilot projects in the Russian Federation.

The agreement, which follows the government’s approval of the Concept for the development of hydrogen energy in the Russian Federation from August, will see Gazprom creating a roadmap with target indicators of technological development and the corresponding action plan, and then submitting it for approval to the government.

The company and the Russian Government will then jointly implement the roadmap, with the participation of stakeholders.

Along with oil & gas players, other fossil energy producers are also announcing new clean energy projects and strategies towards net-zero emissions.

One of the biggest producers of electricity from coal-fired power plants in Poland, ZE PAK (Zespół Elektrowni Pątnów-Adamów-Konin), is partnering with the world’s biggest offshore wind developer, Ørsted, to bid in Polish offshore wind auctions.

The companies will participate in the upcoming auction for seabed leases in the Polish Baltic Sea and, if successful in the lease sale, intend to bid at Poland’s offshore wind Contract for Difference (CfD) tenders, planned for 2025 and 2027.

Ørsted’s new partner plans to phase out coal-fired power generation no later than 2030. The company has already started its transition from fossil-based to renewable energy generation, having recently completed the construction of the largest solar power park in Poland, and plans to be the first to start producing green hydrogen in the country.

Green hydrogen is especially thematised in the maritime sector as one of the best solutions to decarbonise shipping and push the industry faster towards the global 2050 net-zero target.

If the international shipping sector were a country, it would be the sixth or seventh largest CO2 emitter, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

The report finds that rapid replacement of fossil fuels with renewable fuels based on green hydrogen and advanced biofuels could enable cutting up to 80 per cent of CO2 emissions attributed to international maritime shipping by mid-century.

Renewable fuels should contribute at least 70 per cent of the sector’s energy mix in 2050, IRENA’s report states, outlining a roadmap for the global shipping sector in line with the global 1.5°C climate goal.

Energy transition is not limited to big sectors and it includes a full-circle approach, with the supply chains also doing their part on the global front of cutting emissions.

Offshore wind and oil & gas service provider, Subsea 7, has just announced its net-zero strategy, which targets zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Some 15 years prior to that, the company plans to have reduced its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions (using 2018 as a baseline year) by 50 per cent.

Subsea 7 said it planned to decarbonise its operations by implementing changes and solutions available today, as well as by deploying new, cleaner technologies as they become commercially available at scale in the market.

At the beginning of this month, the company completed the process of combining its Renewables business unit with Norway’s OHT ASA, creating a pure-play renewables company named Seaway 7.

The renewable energy sector is also moving forward with new technologies and projects on the map, with one of the latest tapping into the ocean thermal energy resources offshore São Tomé and Príncipe.

Namely, the UK-based Global OTEC Resources and the government of São Tomé and Príncipe have entered into a partnership to deploy the first commercial floating ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) platform in the country.

A prefeasibility study, part-funded by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), is scheduled to begin soon, according to the country’s Prime Minister Jorge Bom Jesus.

The project, viewed as one of the major options São Tomé and Príncipe has to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels, is a public-private partnership between Global OTEC and SIDS DOCK – the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Sustainable Energy and Climate Resilience Organization – a United Nations-recognised association representing small island developing states.