LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Governments should focus more on
tackling consumer dependence on fossil fuels in the energy
transition to avoid future oil and gas price shocks, the heads
of leading energy companies said on Wednesday.
"As policies around the world change and governments look to
try to reduce their economies' dependence on oil and gas ... if
we don't balance the demand equation and only address the
supply, it will lead to additional volatility," Exxon Mobil
Chief Executive Darren Woods told an energy conference
in Moscow.
Benchmark natural gas prices soared to record highs while
oil prices rose to multi-year highs in recent weeks on concerns
over limited supplies due in part to lower investments in new
projects in recent years.
Western oil and gas companies are under heavy pressure from
investors and governments to shift to renewables such as wind
and solar power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the coming
decades to tackle global warming.
"At the end of the day, if supply goes away and demand
doesn't change, that only has one consequence and that is an
escalation in price rises," BP CEO Bernard Looney told
the conference.
Governments around the world have set out plans to sharply
reduce their economies' carbon emissions in the coming decades
to meet the 2015 Paris climate agreement to limit global
warming.
Speaking at the same event, President Vladimir Putin said
that Russia was ready to provide more gas to Europe if
requested, emphatically rejecting the suggestion that Moscow was
squeezing supplies for political purposes.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso and Shadia Nasralla; Editing by Steve
Orlofsky)