Don’t Paint All Oil Companies with the Same Brush

Those who blame all oil companies equally for their indifference to climate stability are doing so out of gross ignorance of the real-world goings on.  In particular, Shell Oil, headed by Ben van Beurden, is aggressively fashioning its business, with most big (albeit conservative and dividend-hungry) investors at least tentatively on board, to play a key role in emissions reductions through the 21st Century.

This isn’t a piece of cake, for many reasons, including the Eastern Hemisphere; where fossil fuel consumption appears to have peaked in the West, there are huge populations in China and India demanding more energy-intensive lifestyles.

Right around the corner, Russia is sitting on vast reserves, for her own people, and for export.  While Norway plans to allow huge quantities of its oil to remain in the ground, in a laudable effort to mitigate climate change, do you think Russia is doing the same?  Nyet.

Here’s a great piece in “The Economist” that covers Shell’s high-level strategy.