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February 2023

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Editorial comment

Chapters 1 and 2 of the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s ‘Global Risks Report 2023’ are entitled ‘Today’s Crisis’ and ‘Tomorrow’s Catastrophes’, respectively. Whilst this is a rather solemn outlook for the year ahead, the reality is that we are faced with the continued threat of cost-of-living crises, political conflict, and social polarisation – among other things.

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Specifically, the report states that “most respondents to the 2022-2023 Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) chose ‘energy supply crisis’; ‘cost-of-living crisis’; ‘rising inflation’; ‘food supply crisis’ and ‘cyberattacks on critical infrastructure’ as among the top risks for 2023 with the greatest potential impact on a global scale”. And so, amid the noise of economic recovery from COVID-19, the continued Russia-Ukraine conflict, and persistent cyberattacks, the issue of decarbonisation failed to make it into one of the top spots.

However, Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director of the WEF, notes that “the health and economic after-effects of the pandemic have quickly spiralled into compounding crises. Carbon emissions have climbed, as the post-pandemic global economy fired back up”.1 Despite the number of distracting dilemmas that we are up against today, it is clear that climate change remains a concern – perhaps more than ever. And in the wake of Davos 2023, we thought it fitting to reflect on how the energy sector is adapting to this catastrophe of tomorrow.

Several of the articles in this issue are cognisant of the oil and gas industry’s role in mitigating emissions. Elliott Group (p. 35) explores the development of new and optimised turbomachinery solutions to support the decarbonisation of the energy economy. On p. 41, Cook Compression discusses two potential pathways to decarbonisation – emission reduction and hydrogen fuel – and how new technologies are being developed to support energy companies. Similarly, Comprimo, part of Worley (p. 19) studies the options available for recovering carbon dioxide emissions and hydrogen from sulfur plants, and Bechtel Energy (p. 14) discusses the integration of an amine-based, post-combustion carbon capture unit with an LNG facility.

Additionally, our regional report, which focuses on Central and South America, begins by stating that one of the challenges that is set to inform the future of the region’s downstream sector is the global race to net zero. As such, there are moves to develop the hydrogen economy in Brazil in particular.

Whilst the WEF’s outlook for 2023 may seem glum, we hope that the key takeaway from this issue is that there are signs of recognition and progress towards a sustainable future within the oil and gas sector. There is an awareness of the fact that climate change is a worrying reality, and companies are looking at ways of adapting their operations in response to this.

Indeed, a recent headline from The Guardian read ‘What we learned at Davos: signs of hope emerge from the pessimism’. The article notes that whilst we have “become hard-wired for pessimism […] after surviving the horrors of the past three years there [is] a sense that there can’t be much more bad stuff out there and that, as a result, the only way is up from here”.2 Perhaps it is time to attempt a shift away from pessimism towards cautious optimism, instead.

  1. The Global Risks Report 2023’, World Economic Forum, 18th Edition.
  2. What we learned at Davos: signs of hope emerge from the pessimism’, The Guardian, (22 January 2023), www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/22/what-we-learned-at-davos-global-economy.