The energy transition is at the forefront of most governments’ thinking, but it’s important to pursue a multidimensional approach, global energy leaders said during a Sept. 18 panel at Gastech Houston 2024.

In simple terms, the cure should not be worse than the disease.

Managing the transition with an open approach includes keeping all pathways and technologies on the table, or “we could be undermining the transition,” said Joseph McMonigle, secretary general for the International Energy Forum, at Gastech 2024 in Houston.

A “single linear pathway that everybody has to follow is really misguided and an outdated approach,” he said.

Different countries, depending on technological and economic progress, have different starting points and pathways toward achieving net zero targets.

Energy poverty, accessibility and affordability are all crucial issues to consider in less economically developed economies.

“If we pursue an energy transition approach that creates high prices and volatility, which we were starting to see a couple years ago, the public starts to connect high prices and volatility with the transition [and then] we're in big trouble,” McMonigle said. “And we risk losing public support for the transition and climate policy.”

Csaba Marosvári, Hungary’s deputy state secretary for energy security, employed a different idiom: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. The landlocked European country is already dealing with the fallout from geopolitical conflicts in the region, especially as it is seen aligning more with Russian interests.

For countries such as Hungary, which relies heavily on energy imports—from Russia—a diversification of energies, including traditional forms, and expanded infrastructure are crucial to ensure supply security.

But to expand and diversify, capital and friendly policies are needed to make that happen.

Europe has been pushing for clean energy technologies and a move away from traditional hydrocarbons, putting Hungary in an untenable position.

“Especially as a result of the war in Ukraine, we receive stronger, stronger pressure to diversify faster away from Russian fuels,” Marosvári said. “But at the same time, in our region, there are small countries, small markets, few significant market players, lack of capital.”

Infrastructure projects, which can cost up to hundreds of billions of euros, are not feasible for smaller economies to fulfill, he said.

At the same time, the EU denies Hungary “the funds for us to be able to do that,” Marosvári said. Wind, solar, hydro and nuclear power will be able to get halfway to net zero, but until technology is developed to fully fuel the world, investments in oil and gas will have to continue in the interest of energy security, McMonigle said.

Khalifa Abdulsadek, Libya’s minister of oil and gas, said a lot of untapped potential remains.

“It's really an opportunity for investors to come and help us … and enjoy the gap that has been created with the Russian-Ukraine war,” Abdulsadek said.

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