Majors mull power puzzle

Financial and regulatory challenges are curbing the ambitions of major oil companies' ambitions to invest in the electricity supply sector

Industry and political posturing over the direction and speed of the global energy transition, which many hope will limit climate change and encourage carbon-neutral energy consumption, is pitting oil and gas firms against the electricity supply industry. Each sector seems to be encroaching on the other: some major oil companies are taking steps to enter the power sector, while utilities are taking aim at the transport fuels business. But underlying the rhetoric is the reality that these steps are so far largely marginal; enormous technical, and commercial challenges face each sector as companies migrate from their traditional sectors. For the oil industry, the challenges are further complic