Oil companies are seeking to expand offshore drilling for a surprising reason critics say is not worth the risks: 'The concern and worry is there ... because we have been burned once'

Oil companies like Shell continue to drill, according to The New York Times, because "the world will continue to need oil."

Countries and companies have pledged to get the use of dirty energy sources to net zero by 2050, but the oil companies are betting that won't happen. Besides, the world will still use oil in 2050. To get to net zero, beyond reducing pollution, they will need to balance the toxic gases that go into the atmosphere with an equal amount of removal — not an easy task.

Either way, oil companies are planning on continuing to be highly needed into 2050 and beyond, for better or worse, and the perhaps surprising development is some of them are exploring ways to reduce pollution during the drilling process. 

"The world will continue to need oil … even in 2050," Wael Sawan, an executive at Shell, recently told the Times. "It will have to be lower and lower emissions."

What's happening?

Oil companies recently paid $382 million to drill more in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, they are working on expanding their deepwater drilling operations there, as they say offshore drilling "releases fewer greenhouse gases than drilling on land," per the Times report. 

This means building giant drilling platforms like Shell's Appomattox, which encompasses 100,000 metric tons (over 110,000 U.S. tons) of steel in the middle of the Gulf. These are similar to the Deepwater Horizon platform, which exploded in 2010 and leaked approximately 134 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. It damaged beaches, tourism, the fishing industry, and countless marine animals. 

Why is expanding offshore drilling important?

While oil companies claim that they have taken steps to make these new platforms safer than before and allegedly with lower pollution (though the Times report casts some doubt on the significance of the difference), they still present a serious potential for disaster. 

"The concern and worry is there for the right reasons because we have been burned once," Najmedin Meshkati, a University of Southern California professor who studied that spill, said in the Times report.

In addition, the continued focus on drilling means less focus on moving to clean energy sources. Brettny Hardy, a lawyer for Earthjustice, pointed out to the Times that "There's really a dire need to accelerate this shift to clean energy. The things the [oil] industry is doing now is not going to help that transition."

What's being done about offshore drilling expansion?

Though the oil companies might not be helping, people across the United States are working to help us all move to cleaner energy sources. The federal government invested $391 billion in climate technology, and investment in clean energy from other sources has gone up, too. 

Individual communities are helping, too, like one Chicago neighborhood that invested in geothermal heat pumps for nearly 100 buildings. From asking your electric company about its energy sources to messaging your elected officials about clean energy, every small step takes us a little closer to that 2050 goal. 

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