Norway's Statoil says it reached emissions goals early

Sept. 22 (UPI) -- After reaching its climate targets ahead of schedule, Norwegian energy company Statoil said it was raising the bar for cutting its emissions.

The Norwegian energy company, one of the more robust producers in the world, said it reached its target of cutting 1.2 million tons worth of emissions of carbon dioxide from its portfolio three years ahead of schedule.

"We aim to reduce CO2 emissions from the NCS by another 2 million ton by 2030," Arne Sigve Nylund, an executive vice president for development and production, said in a statement. "This work starts now."

In 2015, the company joined nine of the world's largest oil and gas companies in pledging to play a constructive role in reducing the intensity of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Through the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, the companies said they're committed to "significant actions" to cut greenhouse gas emissions from their operations. The 10 companies combined for about 10 percent of all global energy supplies and said they've reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by around 20 percent over the last 10 years.

Statoil said it reached its targets early by doing simple things, like changing the way it produces drinking water on its platforms, to upgrade power turbines.

"It is essential that we take strong and effective actions to meet the challenges associated with man-made climate change and to realize the important goals set in the Paris agreement," Nylund said. "Targeted efforts are therefore underway throughout our business."

Eldar Saetre, the head of Norwegian energy major Statoil, said at a Houston energy conference earlier this year that thinking about new ways to do business extended beyond oil and natural gas. The director said global oil demand is on pace to grow at 1.5 percent per year, but to reach the guidelines of the Paris climate agreement, that demand needs to reverse course.