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BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 12th, 2021, 12:00 pm
by TUK020
Re: BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 12th, 2021, 1:09 pm
by absolutezero
As I have said before, these companies will not die. They will simply adapt.
Besides, how much oil do you think it takes to make 'green' tech?
Answer: A lot. Oil will be around for a LONG time to come yet.
Re: BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 12th, 2021, 2:57 pm
by scrumpyjack
The big question that article does not address is why do they think legacy big oil companies like Shell and BP will be able to out compete new entrants who don't have all the baggage of the run off of old oil? Already we have seen them paying hugely higher prices for things like wind farm sites than competitors who have been at it for years.
Personally I very much doubt they will be able to make a big success of green energy, but I do think oil is going to be around for a long time and prices, and their profits, are likely to rise as little new exploration is done.
Re: BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 12th, 2021, 5:30 pm
by TUK020
ReallyVeryFoolish wrote:scrumpyjack wrote:The big question that article does not address is why do they think legacy big oil companies like Shell and BP will be able to out compete new entrants who don't have all the baggage of the run off of old oil? Already we have seen them paying hugely higher prices for things like wind farm sites than competitors who have been at it for years.
Personally I very much doubt they will be able to make a big success of green energy, but I do think oil is going to be around for a long time and prices, and their profits, are likely to rise as little new exploration is done.
A big fly in the ointment here is likely to be the national oil companies (Middle East and elsewhere). They have no incentive to green-wash themselves so are not encumbered and shackled to the same extent as the oil companies listed on stock exchanges around the world (Aramco aren't cutting production any time soon etc). Furthermore, they often have the lowest cost of production and their government owners typically are not interested in reducing production. So, as company greening advances in the listed companies and the burden of doing so becomes ever more arduous, the production given up by them is simply picked up by the national oil companies. Looked at in this way, there are significant head winds against the likes of Shell and BP, both from the green lobby and in the market place by the national oil companies too. It's not going to be plain sailing, that's for certain.
RVF
Depends how you look at it.
These guys have the offshore engineering skills, and huge project management capabillity to become big players in things like floating offshore wind platforms.
They also have significant cashflows to fund this investment
Re: BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 12th, 2021, 5:45 pm
by Dod101
I think part of the advantage that Shell in particular has is their depth of management and their cash resources, bolstered by the continuing profitability of oil. Shell in particular has been adapting for most of its life so transitioning to renewables is just another step along that route. Besides, I am prepared to believe that Schroders have a better grip on this than I do. The new entrants obviously have less baggage but they do not necessarily have the management and general 'nous' of running a big business that both BP and Shell have.
Dod
Re: BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 12th, 2021, 6:01 pm
by monabri
Here's a short clip ( 6 mins) from Professor Brian Cox...and his self proclaimed "Planet Fu*k%r" scientist. It makes you realise that, in the absence of a radical breakthrough, we either accept a much lower living standard or continue to rely on fossil fuels.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xoi5c5Well...have we been building 2 new nuclear reactors per week and umpteen wind farms, solar power plants?
Re: BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 12th, 2021, 6:11 pm
by scrumpyjack
monabri wrote:Here's a short clip ( 6 mins) from Professor Brian Cox...and his self proclaimed "Planet Fu*k%r" scientist. It makes you realise that, in the absence of a radical breakthrough, we either accept a much lower living standard or continue to rely on fossil fuels.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xoi5c5Well...have we been building 2 new nuclear reactors per week and umpteen wind farms, solar power plants?
It will all be fine, fusion power is coming
Re: BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 13th, 2021, 10:55 am
by Sorcery
monabri wrote:Here's a short clip ( 6 mins) from Professor Brian Cox...and his self proclaimed "Planet Fu*k%r" scientist. It makes you realise that, in the absence of a radical breakthrough, we either accept a much lower living standard or continue to rely on fossil fuels.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xoi5c5Well...have we been building 2 new nuclear reactors per week and umpteen wind farms, solar power plants?
It'a a little short (was it an extract?). However it's spookily similar to this article I have posted before on the "end of ice age" thread on Current Affairs.
Here is a takedown of the idea of making the US electricity grid only (never mind transport or heating) green,
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/04/16/ ... ibilities/
Bottom line is absent nuclear fusion reactors, going entirely green without using fossil fuels people outside the tropics are going to be dying of hypothermia, eg. people in the UK in winter when it can be cloudy (no solar) and without wind (no wind power) for weeks. No battery can keep the entire UK grid supplied for that long.
Personally I am fed up of hearing all the green crap from the BBC and elsewhere, when they don't understand and don't explain the impossibility (without killing people) of their ambitions.
Re: BP & Shell - transition to renewables
Posted: August 13th, 2021, 12:18 pm
by monabri
It is a 6 min clip taken from one episode in a series.