BP PLC has been one of the most responsible companies for burning unwanted natural gas at the U.S. oil field. He is now trying to clean up his car.
The British oil giant plans to invest about $ 1.3 billion in building a massive network of pipelines and other infrastructure to collect and capture the natural gas produced as a byproduct of the oil wells in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico. He plans to announce Monday that he will eliminate the routine burst of natural gas at the field in 2025.
BP’s investment reflects the growing pressure that large oil companies have on the part of regulators, investors and buyers of natural gas to reduce the carbon footprint of fossil fuels and their contributions to climate change.
BP has pledged to reinvent itself as a cleaner energy company, saying it will drop oil and gas fuel production by 40% by 2030 and eventually sell more renewable energy than oil, while reducing to zero its net carbon emissions. But to fund its ambitious transformation, BP relies on continued revenues from oil and gas production.
“We will produce oil and gas for decades, but it will be a certain type of oil and gas,” said Dave Lawler, president of BP America Inc. “It’s a very profitable barrel and it’s a responsible production barrel.”