Opting to go ahead with Rosebank was a “difficult decision”, Equinor CEO Anders Opedal has said, while defending the role of oil and gas as part of the energy mix.
Opedal was speaking at the Energy Intelligence Forum, against a backdrop of protests taking aim at the Rosebank project.
“I spent a lot of time thinking about it but, in the end, it is the right decision,” Opedal said.
The Equinor CEO said it was important that demonstrators could voice their opposition to such projects.
“In the energy transition there’s no easy answers. Everything is a dilemma. Personally, I believe in a balanced energy transition,” he said. “I believe developing Rosebank will be needed, as oil and gas will be needed in the energy transition. Our strategy is to develop oil and gas, renewables and low carbon solutions.”
Equinor recently started up the Dogger Bank offshore wind project, earlier this month.
One point of difference the company aims to deliver on Rosebank is on its low-carbon emissions per barrel.
Equinor has said oil produced from Rosebank will have around 12 kg of emissions per barrel, dropping to 3 kg when it brings in electrification for the facility.
The company has been working on electrification in Norway for years, Opedal said.
“Together with our suppliers we have been working hard to reduce costs from shore,” he continued. As a result, average CO2 emissions from the Equinor portfolio is below 7 kg per barrel.
“Developing new oilfields today requires us to think very hard about how to produce that new oil and gas with as low emissions as possible. That is why at Rosebank we will use all the technology so that every new field will have as low emissions as possible.”
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