Loss of ECA finance harms lower impact deep water oil and gas says offshore chief

(UpStream Online, Oslo, 3 October 2022) The world needs to put the right emphasis onto the security aspect of energy policy, with deep-water oil and gas developments playing a key role in this reset, Bruno Chabas, head of Dutch floating production giant SBM Offshore told an audience at the Rio Oil & Gas event on Tuesday. Deep-water developments are one of the segments that can best respond to the global demand for hydrocarbons with lower break-even, lower environmental impact and lower carbon intensity, he argued. Investment levels for oil and gas are recovering somewhat after declining drastically, Chabas said, but he warned that financing will continue to face constraints such as the decision by the European Union and other key countries to end any access to export credit agency (ECA) financing for fossil fuels. “If ECAs are unable to finance oil and gas projects, this just leaves the commercial banks, but they too want to be on the side of decarbonisation,” Chabas said. Deep-water oil production currently runs at about 8.3 million barrels per day, representing 8% of global output, with Brazil representing about 36% of that. [The relative dangers and advantages of offshore vs onshore drilling is a controversial subject.]