ExxonMobil releases study on energy trends, greenhouse gas emissions
and alternative energy
Posted: 05 February 2004
Exxon Mobil Corporation said in a report released today that the
world will require about 40 percent more energy in 2020 than today
and consumption levels will reach almost 300 million oil-equivalent
barrels per day.
"Developing reliable, affordable supplies to meet this energy
demand will be an enormous challenge. Meeting future demand and
developing more efficient uses of energy while taking actions to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions will make this challenge even greater,"
said Frank Sprow, the company's vice president for Safety, Health
and the Environment.
These sizeable increases in energy demand are projected despite
continued improvements in energy efficiency. In total, ExxonMobil
expects these efficiencies to be about 1 percent per year, because
of improved vehicles, power plants, construction standards and other
actions. If efficiency gains were achieved at only half this rate,
the world would consume about 30 million additional barrels of oil-equivalent
energy per day. To put this amount of energy in perspective, Western
Europe currently consumes close to 30 million barrels per day.
According to the report, 80 percent of the energy growth from 2000
through 2020 will be devoted to improving living standards in many
parts of the developing world, where about 85 percent of the world's
population will live in 20 years. "Because 80 percent of the
world's growth in energy demand through 2020 will be in developing
countries, 80 percent of the growth in carbon emissions will also
be in the developing world. As a result, actions to reduce carbon
emissions must include consideration of the world as a whole,"
Sprow said.
The report states that the potential impacts of greenhouse gas
emissions on society and ecosystems may prove to be significant.
"To address these risks, we have for many years taken actions
to improve efficiency and reduce emissions in our operations and
in customer use of our products. We are also working with the scientific
and business communities to undertake research to create economically
competitive and affordable future options to reduce long-term global
emissions," Sprow said.
ExxonMobil also continues to consider investments in alternative
energy sources that meet their investment criteria and can compete
favorably among other opportunities. ExxonMobil's focus with regard
to alternatives is on research to make promising options commercially
viable, as for example through its $100 million investment in Stanford's
Global Climate and Energy Project (G-CEP). The G-CEP project unites
the scientific and engineering community with private industry in
search for new commercially viable technologies that can substantially
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and can be adopted globally.
In the context of the use of petroleum in the overall economy,
the report estimates that by far the majority of emissions arise
from consumer use of fuels (87 percent), with the remainder from
petroleum industry operations (13 percent). "Therefore, we
also undertake research on petroleum manufacturing efficiency improvements,
as well as on advanced vehicles and fuels with automobile manufacturers,"
Sprow said.
Sprow added that the report was developed to clearly convey ExxonMobil's
positions, research and actions on critical energy issues. "The
company's strategy in addressing these issues includes expert analysis
and consultation with others, investment discipline, broad diversity
in its energy portfolio, and breadth of research on energy-related
issues and opportunities," Sprow said.
The full report is available at www.exxonmobil.com.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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