Oil majors reduce low‑carbon spending to invest in hydrocarbons over energy security concerns

New Delhi, June 20 (IANS) Global oil majors are cutting back on low‑carbon investments and refocusing on conventional oil and gas investments due to energy security concerns from geopolitical conflicts, a report said on Saturday.

The report from Equirus Securities said combined low‑carbon spending by seven global oil supermajors fell to the lowest level since 2019 at about $8.3 billion in 2025 from around $24 billion in 2024.

Meanwhile, their investments in oil and gas projects have risen, marking the first time spending on low‑carbon initiatives have declined while hydrocarbon investments increased.

Norwegian multinational energy company Equinor has revised its oil and gas production outlook, withdrew its renewable‑capacity target and approved a NOK 40 billion investment to expand production from Norway’s Troll gas field, which supplies nearly 30 per cent of Europe’s gas demand, the report noted.

London-based energy company BP has also accelerated its strategic pivot towards conventional energy, increasing its focus on upstream growth and targeting production of more than one million barrels of oil equivalent per day from its US portfolio by 2030.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to increase crude oil production beyond 5 million barrels per day and has announced cumulative investment commitments exceeding $200 billion by 2030, the brokerage said.

The report mentioned the global energy landscape increasingly moving towards “energy addition” rather than “energy substitution”, due to growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence, data centres, industrialisation and emerging economies.

“LNG, nuclear power, power grids and conventional fuels are increasingly being added alongside renewable energy sources to meet rising demand rather than replacing hydrocarbons altogether,” the report said.

Consequently, hydrocarbons are likely to remain an important part of the global energy mix for longer than previously anticipated even as renewable-energy deployment continues to expand, the report added.

–IANS

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