Because energy is so vital, we in the energy industry have a responsibility to work toward overcoming the challenges we all face, including meeting the basic energy needs of a rapidly growing world population. And we have a responsibility to continue developing and delivering the resources on which the world depends in an economically sound and environmentally responsible way.
The consumers we serve and the conditions we operate in demand that we continue to innovate. By 2030, the world’s population is expected to reach 8 billion. As populations grow around the world, our economies will grow as well–and such growth requires energy. Even with improvements in energy efficiency, worldwide energy demand is expected to grow about 40 percent by the year 2030.
To put these numbers in perspective, in the amount of time it takes you to read this article, people around the world will have consumed about 14 million gallons of oil to drive to work, take their children to school, heat their homes and perform countless other everyday tasks. Twenty-four years from now, 20 million gallons of oil will be consumed in the same amount of time.
To meet the growing demand, we need energy from all sources. Nuclear, wind and solar power and biofuels will play an important role in our energy future. In fact, we predict that some of these sources will be among the fastest growing in the next decade, due in part to government subsidies and mandates.
Nevertheless, oil, natural gas and coal will continue to play a larger role. Why? First, they are abundant. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the amount of conventional oil that remains to be recovered is twice the amount produced so far. And the amount of “frontier” resources such as heavy oil and shale is half again as large. Second, they are affordable. Even at its recent price peak, a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline cost much less than a gallon of bottled water in the United States. Third, fossil fuels are being turned into cleaner products. A new car today, running on new low-sulfur gasoline and equipped with the most advanced emissions technology, has 97 percent fewer emissions than a new vehicle had in 1970.
If we fail to develop available energy resources of all types–including fossil fuels–the legitimate needs of millions if not billions of people around the world will go unmet. Technology enables us to meet these needs. The oil and natural-gas industry has always operated at the technological frontier, constantly searching for new and better ways to develop resources under increasingly challenging circumstances.
It is interesting to me that some have said “the era of easy oil is over.” From our perspective, producing energy has always been a challenge. Changing conditions, growing demand and evolving environmental expectations test our latest technology and often require our industry to innovate further. Oil seems easy only after it has been discovered, developed and delivered.
The role technology plays in the oil and gas industry is sometimes underestimated. Why? Perhaps because many of our end products appear simple compared with high-tech manufactured goods. Gasoline may not seem as sophisticated as a cell phone or flat-screen TV. Even the term “fossil fuels” sounds low tech.
But in reality, producing energy is an extremely high-tech enterprise. At ExxonMobil, we employ more than 14,000 scientists and engineers and have invested more than $3 billion in research and development over the past five years. We are also the lead sponsor of the world’s largest privately funded research effort focused on low-greenhouse-gas energy–the Global Climate and Energy Project (GCEP), based at Stanford University. We could just as easily be described as a technology company specializing in energy as we could an energy company specializing in technology.
Investments in innovation have yield-ed important energy breakthroughs. From four-dimensional seismic-imaging technology used to detect oil and gas movements in reservoirs deep below the Earth’s surface to nanotechnologies that separate hydrocarbon molecules at our refineries, we are applying technology to conquer the toughest energy challenges. One of these is reducing greenhouse-gas emissions–and it is one we all must work together to address. Consumers can do their part by using energy efficient-ly. Industry can do the same by operat-ing more efficiently and by researching and investing in new, emission-reducing technologies.
At ExxonMobil, we have interests in 85 cogeneration facilities around the world–energy-efficient technology that simultaneously produces electricity and heat or steam, and, in so doing, reduces net greenhouse-gas emissions.
At GCEP, some of the world’s leading scientific minds are hard at work with our support in developing “game-changing” technologies that can dra-matically reduce green-house-gas emissions and be applied worldwide. GCEP’s research projects include efforts to genetically engineer an organism that can convert solar energy into chemical energy stored as hydrogen; to develop far more efficient engines based on advanced combustion concepts; to manufacture solar cells at lower cost, and to safely store carbon dioxide underground in secure formations for thou-sands of years.
The energy industry can and will continue to innovate. New technologies, however, are not developed in a vacuum. Public policies that promote competition, support research and development, and enable access to resources are vital, as is support for math and science education to train the next generation of scientists and engineers. And continued international engagement that strengthens investment and trade, diversifies supplies and promotes free and open compe-tition of ideas is also critical. If governments show the willpower, the energy industry can unleash the necessary brainpower.
The new era we face is not an era of “easy oil.” Nor will it be an era of easy answers. The energy challenges we face are tough. But it can be an era of progress if we work together to promote continued innovation in the energy industry. And if we do so, in the distant future those who come after us might look back and refer to ours as the “era of easy oil.”
