据安迅思3月7日消息称，目前石油巨头正面临两难的困境。它的主要产品是石油和天然气，能源转型正在迅速进行中。公用事业公司正在建设太阳能和风能发电能力，电动汽车电池厂正在建设中，初创企业正在建设充电站网络。石油公司可能在哪里竞争？
它们可以选择涉足这些领域，事实上，包括道达尔、英国石油和壳牌在内的许多欧洲石油公司正在这些领域全速前进。
与运输燃料的长期前景相比，大型石油公司将石化业务视为一项关键的增长业务，因此在石化业务上也做得很大。壳牌将扩大其石化业务，同时大幅削减炼油能力。
但是，石油和天然气公司在可再生能源方面是否具有竞争优势？他们有规模，并且习惯于进行大规模的资本投资。但它们的核心竞争力一直是在油气勘探和运营油气业务——包括下游石化业务。
那么，可再生能源在哪些方面发挥了石油巨头的优势呢?
氢很可能是解决方案–蓝氢，它与CCS（碳捕获和封存）一起在碳氢化合物生产中产生，以及由太阳能和风能产生的绿氢。
石油公司已经在生产和使用氢气方面拥有专业知识，并且具备将氢转化为氨以进行长距离运输的优势。他们具有大规模处理氨的运营能力，并具有将其分发给全球客户的物流网络。
ICIS的国际氨市场编辑Richard Ewing表示：“大型石油公司拥有规模经济，在处理、现有基础设施、存储和物流方面拥有广泛经验，以及在这个新的、大型的、令人兴奋的和潜在的非常有利可图的行业中拥有密切联系。”
“许多石油公司将在短期内考虑使用蓝氨，因为那里已经有很多基础设施，与投资新建的新项目（如绿色氢/氨工厂）相比，所需的资本支出要少得多，因为新项目有很多技术在等待开发。”
曹海斌 摘译自 安迅思
原文如下：
Hydrogen may be Big Oil’s low-carbon solution in global energy transition
Here’s Big Oil’s dilemma. Its main products are oil and gas, and the energy transition is rapidly under way. Utilities are building solar and wind capacity, EV battery plants are under construction, and start-ups are building networks of charging stations. Where might oil companies compete?
They could choose to play in these areas, and indeed a number of European oil companies – including Total, BP and Shell – are going full speed ahead on these fronts.
Big Oil is also going big in petrochemicals, as it views this as a key growth business in contrast to the long-term prospects for transportation fuels. Shell will boost its petrochemicals footprint while it dramatically scales back refining capacity.
But do oil and gas companies have a competitive edge in renewables? They have the size and are used to making large-scale capital investments. But their core competency has been in oil and gas exploration and running hydrocarbon operations – including downstream petrochemicals.
So what renewable energy plays into the strengths of Big Oil?
Hydrogen is likely the solution – blue hydrogen, which is produced in hydrocarbon operations along with CCS (carbon capture and sequestration), and even green hydrogen, which is produced by solar and wind energy.
Oil companies already have the expertise in producing and using hydrogen in their operations, and are well placed to transform this hydrogen into ammonia for long-distance shipments. They have the operational capability to handle ammonia at large scale and the logistics networks to distribute it to customers worldwide.
“The big oil companies have economies of scale, experience in handling, existing infrastructure, storage and logistics, as well as the contacts to participate in this new, large, exciting and potentially very lucrative sector,” said Richard Ewing, international ammonia market editor at ICIS.
“Many oil companies will look at blue ammonia in the short term as there is already much of the infrastructure there, and there is less capex [capital expenditures] needed than investing in a completely new project like a green hydrogen/ammonia plant, where a lot of the technology is still under development,” he added.
