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Reducing Europe’s Carbon Footprint Through Domestic Production

Natural gas is often lumped together with oil and coal, but it is not the same. What makes natural gas ‘dirty’ is geography, not production.

Burning natural gas emits considerably less CO2 (and other pollutants) than coal or oil and is a lower-cost fuel and cleaner energy source in terms of emissions.

A good majority of natural gas produced is shipped, most of it by sea. The journey from one end of the world to customers hundreds of thousands of kilometers away is what releases carbon emissions into the air.

While not every region has the capacity to produce natural gas domestically, those that can – should.

Test Case: Europe

If we look to Europe, the continent has an abundance of natural gas in the ground. By extracting and producing gas domestically, Europe can reduce its global carbon footprint by 30%. This figure was reported by IOGP Europe.

Benefits of Domestic Production

Regions that have the ability to produce natural gas within domestic borders would benefit in various ways:

  • First and foremost, they would experience a significant reduction in their carbon footprint. This would contribute not only to decreasing regional emissions but also to slowing down the pace at which our global temperature rises by 1.5 degrees Celsius.
  • Domestic production would increase energy security and self-reliance, and
  • It would mitigate the significant risks that arise from geopolitical tensions. Something we’ve endured many times over the last several years.

Environmental Protection and Import Risks

Thanks to technology, the drilling process has significantly changed over time. It’s been optimized and the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence has greatly improved accuracy and precision levels, in turn, alleviating safety concerns and keeping our environment better sustained.

MCF Energy Projects

Much of the exploration activity led by our team is taking place at historical drill sites, known to likely contain oil and natural gas condensate.

By going this route, we are preventing the formation of new environmental damage and can rely on historical data to move the process along much more quickly than if we were to break ground in unexplored areas.

Our energy assets are spread throughout Western Europe in Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Beyond the environmental benefits that domestic production offers, MCF Energy has taken a domestic approach to helping Europe build its energy independence to offset the challenges that accompanied Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Security risks were greatly heightened in 2022.

Next Steps

Earlier this year, we completed our drilling program in Austria. The next step is testing, which will begin in October. The timing to market will depend on the product.

We will also re-enter our discovery well in Lech in Germany this year in addition to Lech East. Finally, we hope to drill three shut-in wells in the Czech Republic. If successful, we hope to bring these online this year as well.

Natural Gas: The Indefinite Bridge Fuel

Natural gas will indefinitely remain a significant source of energy. It is considered the ‘bridge fuel’ for the global energy transition and will be required in places where wind generation is limited and when wind generation isn’t available.

For more information about our projects, visit: https://www.mcfenergy.com/news To sign up for email updates, send us an email at info@mcfenergy.com