DEPARTMENTS • DRILLING AHEAD
DRILLINGCONTRACTOR.ORG VIRTUAL PANEL DISCUSSIONS
VPDS “Back to Basics:
Improving Performance
Through Digital Well
Construction” ORIGINAL AIR DAT E:
24 AUGUS T 2023
Learn how SLB is leading the
performance assurance charge
— evolving drilling by combining
its latest drill bit technologies,
rotary steering systems and
autonomous controls. These are
crucial advances for building wells
in the most efficient and consistent
manner and enhancing real-time
reservoir characterization for more
precise trajectories that elevate well
performance. On 24 August, Drilling Contractor
hosted a live Virtual Panel
Discussion, sponsored by SLB:
• Wiley Long, SLB Product
Champion PDC Bits, discusses
the evolution of Smith Bits drill bits
• Roberta Santana, SLB Product
Champion PDC Bits, highlights
the SnapScan app and dull-
grading digitalization
• Ziad Akkaoui, SLB Digital
Champion, details autonomous
downhole tools
• Stephen Whitfield, Drilling
Contractor Associate Editor
(moderator) Sponsored
by drillingcontractor.org/
vpd-access-back-to- basics
6 Recognizing the counterproductive
nature of ‘sustainable investing’
BY LINDA HSIEH, EDITOR & PUBLISHER
One of the most interesting sessions I
attended at the IADC World Drilling
Conference this year was a panel focus-
ing on how the industry should finance
its decarbonization initiatives (see p34 for
our report). On the one hand, companies
understand the needs of the energy transi-
tion and are seeking ways to reduce the
carbon footprint of drilling and rig opera-
tions. On the other hand, change comes at
a cost, so who will pay for that cost?
While the panel looked more inward at
whether operators or drilling contractors
should shoulder the financing, there is
also a broader perspective to the question,
as we know that there is a general trend
of investors and banks turning away from
the oil and gas industry.

But is shunning oil and gas actually a
good sustainability strategy? Not accord-
ing to a recent report from two econom-
ics/finance experts from Yale and Boston
College. In fact, they say that the so-called
sustainable investing, which tends to
direct capital away from industries like oil
and gas, is counterproductive.

The focus of sustainable investing is
often to build a portfolio of low-emissions
“green” firms – like insurance or finan-
cial services companies, for example. At
the same time, investments in so-called
“brown” firms, or those with higher emis-
sions profiles, get discarded.

But those “green” firms likely had little
to no emissions simply due to the nature
of their business, the authors pointed out,
and further investment in them is unlikely
to yield innovations that will drive impact-
ful, long-term emissions reductions. They
“have little scope for further improvement
in their impact,” the report said.

And for “brown” firms that are starved
of cheap capital, there is less incentive
to make changes to their operations or
methods of production. “Brown firms
have approximately 260 times as much
environmental impact as similarly sized
green firms, and have substantially greater
scope for change,” according to the report.

‘No form of energy is truly
renewable’ Another interesting perspective on the
energy transition was delivered recently
by Scott Tinker, Director at UT Austin’s
Bureau of Economic Geology. “No form
of energy is truly renewable, as we have
to either mine for it or dump the waste –
such as used batteries and wind turbines
– back into the ground,” he said at the 2023
AIEN International Energy Summit.

Moreover, the energy transition is not
about switching from current sources of
energy to new sources of energy. “We’re
just adding energy to meet demand and
trying to lower emissions,” he said.

Dr Tinker also highlighted how quickly
nations can change their priorities when it
comes to the energy trilemma.

“Energy security underpins economic
security, which in turns lets you invest
in the environment and obtain climate
security. If you start by focusing on low
emissions, you will not get energy that is
affordable or reliable. You need to focus
on the ‘radical middle’ of this particular
triangle,” he said.

World events like the signing of the
Paris Agreement at COP21, the COVID-19
pandemic and the war in Ukraine have
all influenced where that middle ground
moved to, pushing and pulling on people’s
attention among energy security, econom-
ic security and climate security.

“Energy and economy are intertwined,”
he said. “60% of the world’s population
live with some sort of energy poverty.

The emerging economies are desperate
for affordable energy. Energy won’t end
poverty, but we can’t end poverty without
energy.” DC
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 • DRILLING CONTRACTOR
Scan me to access
“Counterproductive Sustainable Investing:
The Impact Elasticity
of Brown and Green
Firms.” bit.ly/45gmxOa