(ANSA) – ROME, MAY 09 – A new report by the international NGO EDF + Business underlines how mergers and acquisitions (M&A) between companies in the oil and gas sector can slow down efforts to reduce emissions from the oil and gas industry gas. The report reveals that between 2017 and 2021, the number of operations that shifted polluting activities from one company with strong environmental objectives to others without such commitments doubled.
Case studies in the report include the July 2021 sale of assets in the Permian Basin, Texas, by APA Corporation (Apache), a public company, to Slant Operating, a private equity-backed operator. Analysis shows that Slant will likely plug inactive acquired wells at a significantly slower rate than Apache would. In March 2021 there was the sale of the Delaware, Texas basin, assets from Oasis Petroleum, a public company, to Percussion Petroleum II, a private equity-backed operator. Since the sale, Percussion has completed seven new wells and has maintained the asset’s high flaring intensity (burning excess gas without energy recovery), although flaring in the Delaware Basin has decreased.
In January 2020, the sale of the assets of the Gulf of Suez, Egypt, by BP, a public company, to Dragon Oil, a subsidiary of the national oil company, took place. A sharp increase in flaring occurred after the sale – more than four times higher than pre-sale levels. Finally, in January 2021, the assets of the Niger Delta, Nigeria, were sold by Shell and Total Energies, public companies, to Trans-Niger Oil & Gas, a private equity-backed operator. Trans-Niger Oil & Gas expects to triple oil production in this area, and a dramatic increase in flaring was recorded after the sale. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
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