Wintershall Dea Sets Net Zero Target

Wintershall Dea aims to achieve net zero emissions on its upstream activities by 2030, the company revealed on Monday.

The target, which applies to scope one and two emissions and operated and non-operated upstream activities at equity share basis, aims to be achieved by the company by increasingly focusing on natural gas and crude oil reservoirs that can be produced relatively CO2-efficiently. At the same time, strict emissions management shall be pursued further, Wintershall Dea noted.

This will be complemented by investments in nature-based mitigation solutions and the development and use of new mitigation technologies, according to the company. During the next ten years, Wintershall Dea said it intends to invest around $475 million (EUR 400 million) in reducing and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions. 

In addition to targeting net zero operations by 2030, Wintershall Dea said it will reduce its corporate methane intensity to 0.1 percent by 2025. Wintershall Dea will also join the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) led Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0) methane reporting framework.

“For exploration and production companies it can’t just be business as usual,” Mario Mehren, Wintershall Dea’s chief executive officer, said in a company statement. “The future of energy is low-carbon,” he added.

“We’re realistic. The amounts of CO2 released in our activities are small compared with the CO2 emissions produced by the combustion of oil and gas. But reducing emissions that arise directly from our operations to net zero is a contribution that we can and want to make ourselves,” Mehren went on to say.

“We will successfully adapt to the energy transition. Because change has always been part of our corporate DNA. From potash and salt, we moved into oil. Today, our focus is clearly on natural gas. There are now exciting new prospects with solutions such as CCS and hydrogen,” he continued.

Wintershall Dea describes itself as Europe’s leading independent natural gas and oil company. In 2019, the company’s operating activities generated around 2.5 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents worldwide.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com