The oil sector plans to reduce its CO ₂ emissions by 90% in 2050

After seeing that the Government’s bet is the electric car, the oil sector does not want to be left behind in the energy transition. This is confirmed in a report by the Spanish Association of Operators of Petroleum Products (AOP) entitled “The Strategy for the Evolution of Ecofuels”, with which the oil industry considers that CO emissions can be reduced by 90%₂ by 2050 in the refining industry and up to 80% the emission intensity of fuels.

How? Basically making refineries cleaner by capturing, storing and using all the _CO2 they emit for reuse for example in the production of ecofuels or as a raw material for the chemical industry.

The second vector is to manufacture products that pollute less _CO2, such as green hydrogen (produced from water with renewable electricity), advanced biofuels that are manufactured from raw materials of biological origin, mostly agricultural, forestry or industrial waste and the manufacture of other low-carbon fuels from non-biological waste, read plastics or municipal solid waste.

To get the oil industry heading in that direction, the president of the AOP, Luis Aires, stressed that “billions of investment are needed.” However, in his opinion that is not the problem, since the oil industry has been investing 1,000 million a year for the last 26 years. For Aires, the problem is that the government that comes out of the polls on November 10 bets in the first place “for technological neutrality.” In the first draft presented by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, about a year ago, there was talk of banning the circulation of cars with traditional fuels in the year 2050. According to the AOP, “these terms have been corrected in successive documents.”

Secondly, AOP calls for “concreteness in regulation” to have clear rules of the game. In addition, the oil companies ask the Executive “to support R + D + i; to its industrial policy and a taxation that favours investors”.

The general director of the AOP, Andreu Puñet, demanded “concreteness from the Government so that companies can invest.” He recalled that these are companies that generate 200,000 jobs between direct and indirect and the turnover in Spain amounts to more than 40,000 million.

The oil industry, which includes companies such as Repsol, Cepsa, BP, Galp and Saras, estimates that they will maintain a market share of 50-60% in transport in 2050, compared to the current 90%. According to his estimates, “the rest will be electric cars.” Currently, there are not many alternatives, except liquefied natural gas, which is already beginning to be used in public transport, such as buses or taxis.

In addition, it considers necessary measures in the field of industrial policy such as the approval of an “ambitious” plan to renew the vehicle fleet, encouraging the replacement of older cars with new more efficient and with lower CO emissions.₂ as NOx and particles, as well as the definition of a long-term industrial strategy through a sectoral table of refining, among others.

Regarding the electric car, the oil tankers know that “it will undoubtedly contribute to decarbonization, but its penetration will take time. Hence, the refining sector is working on how to supply the energy of the future.”

Source: The Vanguard