HOUSTON, TEXAS (Energy Analytics Institute, 11.Mar.2025) — Energy briefs and highlights from Day 2 of CERAWeek by S&P Global 2025 in Houston, Texas spanning executive comments from Woodside Energy, Petronas, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips, among others including Oxy CEO Vicki Hollub on direct air capture (DAC).
— Woodside Energy CEO and managing director: “We have the conviction that LNG is going to be an energy commodity that’s going to play an increasingly important part of the world’s energy mix. It provides great baseload power. Gas is an important feedstock to many manufacturing processes and importantly is got half the life-cycle intensity of coal. So, cleaner burning than one of the other alternative forms.”
On ‘drill baby drill’
“We see and probably one of the key messages from the new administration is that recognition that affordable energy is the foundation of economic prosperity. And, ‘drill baby drill’ whilst a good headline, at its heart is about reliable and affordable energy underpinning economic growth. And I think that is quite a powerful message that’s being heard around the world,” O’Neil said.
On Louisiana LNG
— “We see a real opportunity to get LNG into the market as early as 2029 from this [Louisiana LNG] project to a world that continues to indicate that it is going to need more energy and more energy particularly as the decade wears on,” O’Neil said.
On Australia
“In Australia, we run the risk of losing investment because we just don’t have the right competitive setting,” O’Neil said.
— Petronas CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik: “We don’t treat net zero as something outrageously evil. We see it as a means to getting to a more sustainable future. We know that for national oil companies [NOCs] this is a transition, a national shift to swiftly move to become a national energy player. Given the maturity, the degrees of development, the inherent risks, and policy developments which are different across all these multiple geographies, you are going to have to accept different pathways to an eventual, more sustainable lower carbon system.”
On natural gas as a transition fuel
“If delivered correctly, methane abated, complemented with CCS [carbon capture and storage] potentially as a cocktail with low-carbon ammonia, natural gas may not well end up as transition fuel, it could end up as a destination and mixed together with renewables,” Taufik said.
— TotalEnergies chairman of the board and CEO Patrick Pouyanné: “I want to remain the largest exporter of LNG. I want this title. We need more gas, we need more energy, we need more electricity.”
— ConocoPhillips chairman and CEO Ryan Lance: “We have 4 competitive advantages as the US: our energy security, our food security, our military might and our AI advance. To preserve all of that, energy plays right into the forefront of all of those. The AI is coming. You can talk about it however you want, [but] it is going to be big and it’s going to take a lot of power and the only way to get power to do that is through combined-cycle gas power generation.”
— UAE Minister of Industry and Technology, MD and Group CEO of ADNOC, Executive Chairman of XRG, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) H.E. Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber: “Time to make energy great again. Investing in the US is in fact an absolute imperative. The eco-system available in the US is unparalleled. We have been engaging in many discussions with many partners across the value chain of energy and over the next few months and foreseeable future we will be witnessing large, significant investments by XRG.”
— Harbour Energy Executive Vice President | Managing Director Gustavo Baquero: “When you see Latin America, you have the Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and the pre-salt and Vaca Muerta in Argentina. So all these countries have different characteristics compared to other regions. And each country has to find its way to make these basins competitive. When we think about Latin America and competitiveness … the resources are there. So, it is not below the ground, it’s above ground.”
On the energy reform
“With this [energy] reform I am not optimistic we will be able to make the investments needed to support the goal of 1.8 million barrels per day. With Zama we want to accelerate the project. We see Mexico as a great opportunity for Harbour, and Argentina is a great opportunity for Harbour and who knows … but Brazil is too expensive now,” Baquero said.
— Petrobras Executive Officer for Exploration and Production Sylvia Anjos: “Latin America has huge potential, low emissions and the cost is very competitive. The pres-salt breakeven is less than $35/boe and … even $38/boe is viable. In Africa, 54 countries emit just 2.4% of CO2 compared to the world … and Latin America does not emit more than 3.5% of CO2 compared to the world. We are trying to get an environmental license for the Equatorial Margin. Pre-salt production is going to peak about 2031-2032 and start to decline. The Equatorial Margin has potential but we need to drill in the 6 blocks we have where we will drill 8 wells.”
On Colombia
“The gas offshore Colombia [found by Ecopetrol and Petrobras] will be developed without a platform and be very economical and very low emission and provide all the gas that Colombia needs for the next 10 years. The first 6 Tcf will be enough for Colombia and if you continue exploration as we are doing, probably we will have more gas for export. The first thing is to provide Colombia with the gas they need,” Anjos said.
— P.M.I. Comercio Internacional CEO Margarita Pérez Miranda: “We are having a secondary reform for the energy sector which is better since now the role Pemex and CFE are assuming now are as public companies. The secondary laws need to be approved by Congress this week. The contracts we have within Pemex will be respected and remain and now we will have a new way of contracting with private companies which is shared contract with Pemex and private companies, where they can share financing and technology and within Pemex we will have all the knowledge of our fields and the capacity to operate them.”
On resources
“We have a lot of resources in Mexico that we need to explore before it is too late. We need to find creative ways to do that. There is a clear statement that the government [of Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo] is supporting Pemex and CFE. The objective is to produce 1.8 million barrels per day [MMb/d]. The Olmeca refinery which is running will take 1 year to be ready and reach full capacity. [Importantly], Olmeca will take 100% Maya oil,” Miranda said.
— Oxy CEO Vicki Hollub on direct air capture (DAC): “And right now we’re building what will be the largest CO2 capture facility in the world, just west of Odessa. And the facility was originally designed to extract 500,000 tons per year out of the atmosphere, but right now we’re building the first phase of it, which is we’ll extract about 250,000 tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere, and that part will be coming online mid summer and will be up and running by the end of the year.”
— Cheniere Energy executive vice president and CCO Anatol Feygin: “In terms of demand: North American gas never left. We think Asia is the big driver … from to 700 MTPA from 400 MTPA the increase will roughly be shared between China and southeast Asia.”
— ConocoPhillips senior vice president, strategy, commercial, sustainability & technology Andy O’Brien: “Demand in Asian regions is growing significantly. Countries like Thailand, Vietnam. They are growing so quickly that their gas supply is plateauing or in decline, and they are becoming LNG customers.”
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By Lukas von Koch, Phil M. and Pietro D. Pitts reporting in Houston at CERAWeek. © 2025 Energy Analytics Institute (EAI). All Rights Reserved.
