‘Don’t blame ESG for high oil & gas prices’

PODCAST: With special guest Arjun Murti, equity analyst and author of Super-Spiked

“The reason why oil is $86.50 per barrel today is traditional non-ESG investors saying to the oil sector, ‘you guys stink, you didn’t generate any profits over the last five years’.”

That’s a cracking quote from last night’s high-energy podcast with Arjun Murti, energy equities analyst and author of the excellent Super-Spiked newsletter.

Arjun spoke with passion, clarity and even-handedness around the many factors contributing to the current global energy crunch. He cut through the polarising narratives that seek to lay the blame at the door of climate policies, while warning that these could yet come to threaten energy security.

We delved into energy transition trade-offs, the cost (in)effectiveness of current policy approaches and the many inconvenient but real challenges to decarbonisation — issues that don’t get the airtime they deserve.

Arjun argued strongly against setting Scope 3 emissions reductions targets for oil companies, and called out the yawning gap in climate rhetoric and policy reality as the real culprit for lack of progress.

We also spoke about methane leaks and gas flaring, and why the oil industry might finally start to address these intractable problems — albeit many years later than they could and should have.

The hour-long live show is a must-listen, check it out here.

If you’re pressed for time, here are a few highlights (it was hard to choose):

• “Don’t blame ESG for high oil & gas prices” — 1m 42s

• “Oil profitability and reducing environmental harm go hand-in-hand” — 1m 29s

• “Why would you want unprofitable oil companies leading the renewables sector?” — 0m 30s

• “Scope 3 goals for Big Oil are a cop-out. Why not ban SUVs instead?” — 1m 4s

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Until next time,

Seb