Drill Baby Drill: Why Oil and Gas Majors Should Be No Exception in Exclusion Policies

The statement contends that integrated oil and gas majors are not transitioning to sustainable energy and should be excluded from financial support. Citing the Global Oil and Gas Exit List (GOGEL), it highlights that 95% of oil and gas companies worldwide have plans for new projects, with major European firms like BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies increasing production or expanding short-term plans. The author argues that these companies are diverting capital away from clean energy, with the three European majors projected to allocate less than a third of future investments to low-carbon activities, contradicting IEA 1.5°C scenarios.

• The Global Oil and Gas Exit List (GOGEL) indicates that 95% of oil and gas companies globally have plans for new projects, and nearly two-thirds of the industry's short-term expansion plans exceed the IEA's net zero emissions by 2050 scenario.
• Major European oil and gas companies have increased production or weakened emission reduction pledges: BP increased production by 5% in 2023 and lowered its 2030 output cut target from 40% to 25%; Shell increased production by 8% from 2022 to 2023 and now aims to keep production flat; TotalEnergies plans a 3% annual increase in production by 2030.
• Integrated majors remain top upstream developers; TotalEnergies ranks sixth, Shell tenth, and BP fourteenth in the GOGEL. BP expanded short-term plans by 49% as of September 2024 and increased its three-year average exploration CAPEX by 34%. Shell increased short-term plans by 20% and exploration CAPEX by 9%. TotalEnergies plans to add 22.4 million tons per annum of new LNG export terminal capacity.
• Investment by European majors is not aligned with IEA 1.5°C scenarios, which suggest 50% of investments should go to clean energy by 2030; instead, the three European majors are projected to allocate less than a third to low-carbon activities. Between 2021 and 2023, 64% of financing from the top 20 European banks to these companies went to oil and gas.
• European banks provided US$21.8 billion in financing to BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies between 2021 and 2023. While BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole have committed to stop supporting producers with conventional bonds, other banks including Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Santander, and BPCE/Natixis provided US$6.73 billion to BP and US$7.25 billion to TotalEnergies in 2024.

APA

Manickawasagar, A. (2025). Drill Baby Drill: Why Oil and Gas Majors Should Be No Exception in Exclusion Policies. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/01/20/drill-baby-drill-why-oil-and-gas-majors-should-be-no-exception-in-exclusion-policies/

Chicago

Manickawasagar, Aatiraï. Drill Baby Drill: Why Oil and Gas Majors Should Be No Exception in Exclusion Policies. Reclaim Finance, 2025. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/01/20/drill-baby-drill-why-oil-and-gas-majors-should-be-no-exception-in-exclusion-policies/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Manickawasagar |first1=Aatiraï |title=Drill Baby Drill: Why Oil and Gas Majors Should Be No Exception in Exclusion Policies |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=20 January 2025 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/01/20/drill-baby-drill-why-oil-and-gas-majors-should-be-no-exception-in-exclusion-policies/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{manickawasagar2025drill, author = {Manickawasagar, Aatiraï}, title = {{Drill Baby Drill: Why Oil and Gas Majors Should Be No Exception in Exclusion Policies}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2025/01/20/drill-baby-drill-why-oil-and-gas-majors-should-be-no-exception-in-exclusion-policies/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }