Oil giants around the world have gradually cut oil production and invested in renewable energy, while Petrobras plans to increase oil production by 2026
Petrobras has been the center of political debate throughout Brazil, being the target of criticism and even accused of contributing to the country's inflation, due to its pricing policy that results in the values of gasoline and diesel. Not enough, the Brazilian oil company still faces the huge challenge of surviving the end of the oil era, having to start working in the field of renewable energies.
According to the scientific class, humanity must now drastically reduce the use of fuels derived from petroleum to curb climate catastrophes. In September 2021, the magazine Nature published a study pointing out that the production of oil and gas on the planet should fall by 3% each year until 2050 for global warming to drop by 1,5°C.
In the same year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) also released a study that involved oil production with global warming. The guideline was for no new oil or coal reserves to be exploited in order to avoid the calamitous scenarios of climate change.
Meanwhile, Petrobras intends to expand its oil production by around 45% by 2026, with 15 new platforms in wells in the pre-salt, increasing from 2,2 million barrels per day to 3,2 million bpd. Therefore, the Brazilian oil company understands that oil will continue to generate satisfactory financial returns in the future, despite the planet moving towards a less fossil-dependent energy and fuel production system. Last year, the company earned more than BRL 106 billion, resulting in the payment of BRL 37,3 billion in dividends to the Union.
It is worth remembering that the concept of a sustainable society is not limited to practices aimed at nature, which is also of paramount importance. But it is also about a healthy economy, with more opportunities for everyone. However, today the price of fuel weighs too much on the Brazilian pocket.
Oil companies that have invested in sustainable energy around the world
In August 2019, the then president of Petrobras, Roberto Castello Branco, had said that the company would no longer invest in renewable energies “because it is a business that requires different skills than the oil and gas business”.
Since then, however, several companies in the field have started to invest in the renewables sector. Total, from France, announced that it intends to neutralize operational emissions by 2050 and increase sustainable energy production tenfold by 2030, reaching 100 GW of capacity.
British Petroleum, a UK company, aims to reach 50GW of renewable energy capacity by 2050, and is still working to reduce the production of petroleum-derived fuels by 1 million barrels of oil by 2030.
Anglo-Dutch Shell, which also has a network of gas stations here in Brazil, intends to cut its oil production by up to 2% a year by 2030, neutralizing its toxic gas emissions by 2050.
Demand for oil will continue even with the growing need for renewable energy, says Petrobras
Petrobras was appointed by the American organization Climate Accountability Institute, in a study prepared in 2019, among the 20 companies that most emitted greenhouse gases in the world since 1965.
The Brazilian oil company claims that humanity's journey towards renewable energy sources will not eliminate the high demand for oil and that the two sources may exist together. “Transforming Brazilian resources into wealth” is a motto. In addition, it has been implementing actions to reduce its emissions, despite the effort to explore the pre-salt layer before “a new Age“, as the former president of the company, general Silva e Luna, had said.
For the next five years, Petrobras plans to invest US$ 2,8 billion in order to reduce the emission of polluting gases, create a decarbonization fund of US$ 248 million for low carbon solutions. In 2015, the oil company announced that it intended to reduce its “operational emissions” by 25% by 2030.
The fact is that Petrobras will remain focused on deep and ultra-deep waters, where it still has competitive advantages. The next elections may have an effect on Petrobras' future, but it is still too early to imagine any other scenario.
