Global oil and gas assets up for sale tops $140 billion, says consultancy

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - The dash to ditch fossil fuels has left more than $140 billion of oil and gas assets up for sale worldwide, according to energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

The disposals come amid rising concerns about stranded assets of huge oil and gas reserves that might never be extracted if the world pursues the Paris climate goals of 2015.

After selling $28.1 billion of assets in 2018 alone, ExxonMobil and Chevron in the US and BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Total and Eni in Europe are targeting further disposals of more than $30bn in the coming years, Wood Mackenzie added.

Last month a Dutch court told Shell to reduce its emissions quicker than it had planned, at 45% below 2019 levels by 2030.

This contrasts with Shell's target to cut the total carbon intensity of the products it sells by 6% by 2023, 20% by 2030, 45% by 2035 and to reach net-zero by 2050.

Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency warned exploitation and development of new oil and gas fields must stop this year and no new coal-fired power stations can be built if the world is to stay within safe limits of global heating and meet the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

The Paris-based energy agency also called for no new fossil-fuel cars to be sold beyond 2035, and for global investment in energy to more than double from $2 trillion a year to $5 trillion.