Natural gas will see greater demand in many countries including China and India in the coming years following the global push towards cleaner energy, says Total’s senior vice-president (Middle East and North Africa -MENA) Laurent Vivier.
The creation of facilities at the receiving side in addition to investments in LNG facilities in producing countries will certainly widen the markets, Vivier said in an interview with Gulf Times in Doha.
“We have partnerships in very promising markets, which have a growing share of natural gas - especially in China and India. In India, we are partnering with Adani to build receiving terminals,” Vivier said and noted the expansion of LNG facilities in Qatar and other places will certainly expand the current markets and find newer ones.
“Natural gas has a massive potential. In the last three to four years, Total did invest in some gas-fired plants in Europe. The energy mix in Europe as well as in many other countries will see a growing share of natural gas in the future,” pointed out Vivier, who took over as senior vice-president (MENA) in Total’s Exploration and Production Division in January this year.
“When you look at the scale of development or the sheer size of the facilities, LNG is usually a game, which is very capital intensive. Therefore, it is a story of partnerships.” Vivier pointed out
Asked whether Total, as a clean and responsible energy producer, will have more renewables and gas in the overall energy mix, Vivier said, “We have two pillars in which we will be growing our production and that will contribute to becoming ‘Net Zero’ by 2050 together with society: gas, and LNG in particular, and renewables. Our purpose is clear- more energy, less emissions.
“We will utilise all our resources and strengths in developing our portfolios of new energies. We want to be a large player in renewable energies- in solar and wind, globally. But it does not mean we will stop producing oil. Our view is that we need to continue with our activities in the traditional oil and gas sector, because the world still needs oil.
“Our objective in 2030 is to keep producing oil, because energy transition cannot be done overnight. Also, we strive to increase the share of gas, because only with gas you can have a credible energy transition. At Total, we see more gas replacing coal, particularly for power generation and reducing emissions.”
“That said, we will complement this with increased level of investments in new energies. We are committing to a level of investments worth $2bn every year to grow our renewables portfolio. We have a long lasting presence in solar…have a presence in wind, whether onshore or offshore.”
Vivier noted, “In 2030, we want to deliver more energy to the world, but at the same time with less emission.”
Asked what the pandemic has taught the global energy industry, the senior Total executive said, “It (Covid-19) once again highlight uncertainties… in addition to price volatility, it has added another layer of uncertainty…we now have a pandemic to deal with.
“Forecasting is always good…but who could have forecasted what we are experiencing today? The point is…being ready. We need to take the lessons of what is happening (today) by being ready, once again.
“You can be caught by surprise once… but to be caught by surprise twice, is a mistake. We need to be resilient…have to keep building up our resilience.”