ExxonMobil Natural Gas Will Help Guyana Meet Its Climate Goals

David BlackmonSenior Contributor (Energy) https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidblackmon/2021/01/30/exxonmobil-natural-gas-will-help-guyana-meet-its-climate-goals/?sh=4ce75c827eb9

Much has been written in recent years about the sweeping environmental benefits natural gas has provided to the United States since the advent of the Shale Revolution at the end of the 20th century. While renewables like wind and solar have played a role, there is no question that the U.S. has been able to turn back the clock on its greenhouse gas emissions to levels not seen since the early 1990s thanks mainly to the ability of the country’s abundant and cheap natural gas to displace coal in power generation.

Indeed, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, coal-fired power generation has been cut in half since 2010, while power generated by natural gas generation has risen by about 70%. The result is that, as the Biden Administration takes the U.S. back into participation in the Paris Climate Accords, the country has already met its goals under that agreement through 2025.

PROMOTEDBusiness Reporter BRANDVOICE | Paid ProgramFive Secrets To Retail Success Beyond 2020 [Video]Grads of Life BRANDVOICE | Paid ProgramHow Employers Can Build An Equitable Next Generation Workforce – Even During A PandemicCivic Nation BRANDVOICE | Paid ProgramThe Impact Of A Mentor

Other countries have witnessed the success of this approach and are beginning to emulate it. The most consequential of those in terms of the potential impact to the global emissions profile is China, which is in the midst of a national program to displace much of its coal-fired generation with renewables and natural gas. U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas derived mainly from massive shale plays like the Marcellus Shale, the Haynesville Shale and the Permian Basin will play a key role for many years in facilitating such programs for countries that do not possess scalable natural gas resources of their own.

Smaller nations have their own goals to meet under the Paris Accords, and are moving in the same direction. Once such country is Guyana, whose government recently embarked on a plan to take advantage of its new-found abundance of natural gas now being produced from massive offshore fields being developed by a consortium led by ExxonMobil XOM -2.6%, along with partners Hess and CNOOC.