Fossil fuels will dominate
Energy: Demand for renewables will be slow, says Saudi oil baron
Lynn Moore
The Province
September 14, 2010
Fossil fuels will continue to rule the global energy mix for the next 30
to 40 years, the president and CEO of Saudi Aramco told the World Energy
Congress during Monday's keynote address.
The growth of renewable energy sources and more energy efficiency
technologies will be "slow and uneven" due to a range of factors including
consumer acceptance issues, Khalid Al-Falih said.
"The world will continue to rely on traditional fossil fuels for most of
its energy needs for the coming decades," the head of the Saudi
state-owned company said. "These energy sources -- namely coal, oil and
natural gas-- are expected to account for about four out of every five
units of energy that mankind will consume for the foreseeable future."
Although the share of fossil fuels in the energy mix may decline over the
longer term, the absolute quantities of energy from those sources will
rise "simply because total energy demand is set to expand so
significantly," he said.
Saudi Aramco has oil reserves of about 260 billion barrels, roughly a
fifth of the world's proven reserves which, at the company's current rate
of production, are enough for more than 80 years of production, the
conference heard.
CEO of Royal Dutch Shell Peter Voser said the natural gas revolution is
changing the global energy landscape.
One pillar of the natural gas supply revolution is improved production
technologies that have made it economical to extract gas from a rock
formation known as shale, said Voser, whose shale-gas plays include a
project in northeast British Columbia.
"Worldwide, there's now enough technically recoverable gas in the ground
for 250 years . . . at current production rates," Voser added.
Shell is aware of public concern regarding hydraulic fracturing, the
controversial technique used to stimulate gas flow. Shell takes that
concern seriously, said Voser, who outlined measures taken to protect
groundwater.
"This is not to suggest that nothing could ever go wrong. We've recently
been reminded that things sometimes can and do go wrong.
"But let's also remember that energy is the lifeblood of civilization.
Whether we like it or not, producing energy . . . and delivering it to
billions of customers around the world comes with certain risks."
http://www2.canada.com/theprovince/news/money/story.html?id=1d1ffea6-25c...
