Thilo Wieland, Member, responsible for the regions Russia, Latin America and Transportation of the Wintershall Dea, remarked:
- This decision is the result of a very thorough analysis of our global portfolio and evaluation of individual projects and how they fit with our long-term strategy
However, Wintershall Dea will also continue to produce oil, focusing on selected regions and projects that are in line with its climate targets.
The firm holds participating interests in a total of 9 exploration licenses in Brazil and is the operator of 4 of them.
The company is operator of one licence in the Ceará Basin and three in the Potiguar Basin, both off the country’s north coast and holds stakes in 5 fields in the Campos and Santos Basins, off the southeast coast.
To remind, the company was awarded seven exploration licences in 2018 and 2 additional offshore blocks together with its partners Repsol and Chevron in October 2019.
That same year, Wintershall Dea agreed with Murphy Oil on a partnership in its 3 Potiguar offshore exploration blocks, allowing Wintershall Dea to stay as the operator with a 70 % interest.
Wieland said:
- We greatly appreciate the good relationships we have built over the years with our business partners and the authorities in Brazil and will work constructively with them to ensure a smooth transition
In line with its goals to drive gas transformation initiatives as the fuel of the future, satisfying the energy transition aims for emission reduction, the company also stated on Monday that it intends to bring to life the gas industry transformation with hydrogen and CCS to achieve its climate targets in Europe.
Wintershall Dea considers these technologies to be crucial for reducing emissions, believing – as its CEO aptly put – that «the energy transition will only succeed if we do not leave out any technology that can reduce emissions.»
The company want to reach net-zero across its entire upstream portfolio – both operated and non-operated – by 2030, including Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity share basis.
In addition, Wintershall Dea intends to bring methane emissions intensity below 0.1 % by 2025 and maintain zero routine flaring of associated gas in its operations, achieving its climate goals through portfolio optimisation, more energy efficiency, investments in nature-based compensation solutions and in future technologies such as hydrogen and CCS.