Shell Oil President at Platts Energy Outlook Forum: Government and
Business Can Work Together To Overcome "Divide"
NEW YORK , Nov. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The shale gas
"revolution" is "redrawing the geopolitical map of the world," and
Shell has a four-pronged approach toward capitalizing on that new
supply, the president of Shell Oil Company told the 2012 Platts
Global Energy Outlook Forum "Fuel Fight: Environment Meets
Economics" Thursday in New York
City.
Marvin Odum, giving the keynote
address at the Forum's luncheon, said his company has four
"pillars" of its gas strategy. He cited specific instances where
Shell is looking at projects that would make those "pillars" actual
projects.
"The gas revolution is a creator of new jobs, a catalyst for a
renaissance in American manufacturing, a bridge to future
renewables and with carbon capture and storage, a destination fuel
for an increasingly carbon-constrained economy," Odum said.
Odum made his remarks before an audience of more than a hundred
energy executives, government officials and other industry
representatives. The Forum, now in its sixth year, consisted of two
panel discussions on challenges and vulnerabilities of the
world's energy systems, including the U.S. shale boom and nuclear
safety.
A recurring theme of the day was the ever-present tension and
conflicts between the energy industry, government and society,
which Odum called a "divide" that did not have to exist.
Speaking to recent issues within Shell Oil Company, which is the
U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell, Odum
said the company's drilling program in federal waters offshore
Alaska is a sign of a "real
example where business and government work together to secure both
the opportunity and the protection." (Shell received limited
permission to drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas this summer,
but the limitations on the permit required the company to halt
operations for this year before it reached the hydrocarbon-bearing
zone.)
To balance the "rewards and the risks" inherent in drilling in
such an environmentally sensitive area, "government, society and
business (must) work with one another to define expectations, agree
on operations standards, and collaborate on solutions," Odum said.
Both the Bush and Obama administrations "did their due diligence"
and Shell was issued drilling permits.
"I believe that this administration sees these resources as
critical and strategic to the nation and part of their 'all of the
above' energy strategy," Odum said.
Odum also noted in his address that even as the U.S. is dealing
with a glut of natural gas that is creating the opportunities for
the four pillars, there are still major supply/demand balance
issues for the world going forward.
"It's true that the world's total supply of energy has never
failed to meet demand...not yet, anyway," Odum said. "And it's true
that technology breakthroughs have resulted in such a short-term
glut of natural gas in this country that fears about supply seem
irrelevant."
But long-term global demand continues to rise, Odum noted. "Even
if energy efficiencies reduce growth by 20 percent, and even if
ordinary rates of supply growth boost supply by 50 percent, we
could still face a gap between supply and demand equivalent to the
size of the entire industry in the year 2000."
Earlier during the Forum - which featured opening remarks from
World Energy Council Chairman Pierre
Gadonneix – participants discussed numerous topics,
including recent fuel prices, climate change, natural disasters and
elections, during two roundtable discussions, "The Technology
Battle" and "Global Face-Off: Governments Lock Horns with
Industry."
Robert Bryce, senior fellow at
the Manhattan Institute and Forum panelist, said renewable energy
"may be a darling of politicos and the Green/Left, but it simply
cannot provide the enormous scale of energy that the world demands
at prices consumers can afford."
"Furthermore, the growth in the coal market is swamping any
gains that might be had from renewables," Bryce said. "In
2011 alone, global coal consumption increased by about by 3.9
million barrels of oil equivalent per day. That's about the
same amount of energy as is provided by all global non-hydro
renewable sources, such as wind, solar, and biomass."
To the contrary, said fellow panelist Jigar Shah, founder of SunEdison and former CEO
of Carbon War Room. "We can solve climate change," Shah said. "The
deployment of cost-effective technologies we have invented since
the 1970s represent the largest wealth creation opportunity on the
planet."
The Forum, which this year sponsored by Fortune magazine, is
held annually in association with the Platts Global Energy Awards,
a program now in its 14th year, which recognizes
exemplary industry leadership and innovation in more than a dozen
performance categories.
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SOURCE Platts