ExxonMobil CEO says energy demand set to rise by 30% to 2040
Baku, December 6 (AZERTAC). Global economic output is set to double as the global population grows to 8.7 billion people by 2040, when global energy demand will be 30% higher than it was in 2010, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson said.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia at the launch of the King Abdullah Petroleum and Research Center, Tillerson said meeting that all sources of energy would need to be harnessed "wherever they are economically competitive" to satisfy this demand.
However, developing new sources of energy alone will not be enough without effective policies to improve energy efficiency.
"Increasing energy efficiency is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Without the gains in energy efficiency that are projected for the next three decades, energy use would need to be four times higher just to enable the same level of economic progress," Tillerson said. That is why the role of governments is crucial in establishing competitive and effective energy policies. "The energy challenges the world faces require a business climate that encourages and enables investment, innovation, and cooperation," Tillerson said. "This means governments play a crucial role in the energy industry's ability to expand supplies of energy and increase efficiency in a safe and environmentally responsible way," he added.
In a question and answer session after his presentation, Tillerson said the future energy mix is likely to look much as it is today despite the anticipated growth in renewable energy. "My expectation is that the sources of energy are not going to be too different than they are today. Oil, gas, coal and nuclear are going to play the same important role as they do today and roughly in the same proportions," he said. "As alternative fuel components are developed...they will grow at a very rapid pace but but they start from a very small base." Where wind, solar, hydro and other forms of energy such as biofuels will continue to develop and even register double digit growth, they will still account for single digits in the overall energy complex, Tillerson said. The industry needs "a breakthrough before biofuels will be competitive. Work is ongoing but each of them has their own challenges," Tillerson said.
As for shale gas and shale oil resources, while they are abundant globally, they are not all equal. While shale gas deposits were present in the Middle East and will potentially be important, developing them would require higher unit costs than conventional gas, in particular onshore gas.
In the US and Canada, however, the cost of supply of shale gas has been driven down to a point where "it is viable to be considered for export to nations elsewhere," Tillerson said.
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