According to the Carbon Tracker Initiative (UK), since 2018, major oil & gas companies have approved around US$50bn of new investments that will not be able to thrive if countries comply with the Paris Agreement's goal to keep global temperature rise below 1.5-2˚C. A further US$21bn non-Paris-aligned project pipeline is set to be approved by end-2019.
The US$50bn correspond to 18 major projects that will be in financial constraints under a +2˚C-max world. The report shows that majors players have spent up to 30% of their investments in projects non-consistent with the target, which require an oil price above US$40/bbl (the estimated threshold for viable projects under a 1.6˚C scenario). Players with the most risk of stranded assets are ExxonMobil, Shell, Total, Chevron, BP and Eni.
Among the projects listed are ExxonMobil’s US$2.6bn Aspen oil sands project in Canada, Shell's US$13bn LNG project in Canada, BP's US$4.3bn ACG deepwater oil project (Azerbaijan) and BP's US$1.3bn Zinia 2 deepwater oil project (Angola).