The world oil map is being redrawn as the oil industry becomes increasingly linked to renewable energy. Oil companies that want to reduce their carbon footprints will have to move their activities to energy basins, where drilling rigs can be powered by renewable energy and have Sufficient carbon sequestration space.

This shift will mean that several oil and gas fields that dominate the energy landscape today, from Alaska's North Slope to Russia's Yamal Peninsula and Venezuela's Orinoco Belt, will be disadvantaged and face capital flight in the future. These places have limited infrastructure to develop renewable energy on a large scale.

At the same time, regions with easier access to clean energy are likely to thrive. The U.S. Gulf Coast and Permian Basins, North Carnarvon in Australia, and Rub al Khali in the Middle East are positioned as future energy superbasins that will attract coordinated investment in drilling, renewables and carbon capture in the coming decades , Mr Latham said.

These new basins will benefit from oil majors that have announced plans to reduce direct emissions. The easiest way is to use renewable energy to power drilling rigs and other oilfield equipment, so dominant basins need access to ample wind and solar energy. In the long run, climate targets will force oil companies to also consider emissions from burning oil and natural gas.

Carbon capture and storage is one of the most promising ways for oil companies to achieve this, and energy basins that provide underground storage for injected carbon dioxide can help do this efficiently, Mr Latham said. By 2050, carbon capture will grow to between 2 and 6 billion tons per year.Editor/XingWentao