Statoil’s Senior VP of Corporate Climate, Hege Marie Norheim, presents an interesting look at the push toward the use of natural gas and its versatility as a fuel. In her presentation she states, “if we were to switch from coal to gas today, we would reduce carbon, climate gas emissions by 50 to 70 percent immediately.”
Besides Statoil, there are a LOT of people, and organizations betting on this movement. Exxonmobil is a prime example with their acquisition of XTO, as well as companies like Total, INPEX, and Chevron who are investing billions on Australia’s Northwest Shelf. By 2020, shipowners like John Fredriksen, Teekay, BG Group, and many others will have greatly expanded their fleets with new LNG carriers, and engine manufacturers like Wartsila, Rolls-Royce, Caterpillar, and MAN B&W will have expanded their the portfolios of new engines that will run on LNG and other fuels.
This energy movement is also visibly in progress in many areas around the world such as Chile, India, Columbia, the Baltics, and of course Australia, where new LNG import terminals are being developed to take advantage of this new trade.