There is enough energy in the ground right now to supply the needs of the U.S. for the next 100 years, and we can get to it economically. That’s the premise of Exxon-Mobil CEO, Rex Tillerson’s ‘State of Energy’ address to the Greater Houston Partnership.
Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson addresses the Greater Houston Partnership “State of Energy” Luncheon Photo Credit: GHP
“Industry technologies have now put within reach enough natural gas to help power the US economy at its current demand for more than a century,” Tellerson told a Partnership luncheon this week at the Hyatt Regency Downtown. “Sources of oil and natural gas, long-dismissed as uneconomic and inaccessible are being transformed into energy supplies that are successful, reliable, and competitive,” he says.
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Just this week, President Barak Obama praised the US Energy Industry in bolstering his claims of an improved economy. “The number one oil and gas producer in the world is no longer Russia or Saudi Arabia; it’s America,” the President boasted in his economic address at Chicago’s Northwestern University.
Tillerson agrees, and has the data to back it up. “By itself, Texas ranks as the number 8 oil producer among the world’s top ten producers of crude oil,” he says. “Of course, the rest of them are countries,” he jokes.
Technology is the key. “Sources of oil and natural gas, long-dismissed as uneconomic and inaccessible are being transformed into energy supplies that are successful, reliable, and competitive,” says Tillerson. Since early 2008, US natural gas production is up 25%, and natural gas reserves are up more than 25%–that just in the period from 2008 to 2012. Those impressive stats continue to rise.
Tillerson predicts deepwater production worldwide is going to grow by 150-percent over the next 25-years. Onshore, the results are nothing short of phenomenal. Thanks to growth in production in places like the Eagle Ford Shale and the Permian Basin, Texas is producing an excess of three-million barrels a day. That represents “an astounding 35% of daily US production,” he says. “It should be no surprise to learn that our nation is now the number one producer of total energy coming from oil and natural gas.” In total, the nations of North America–Mexico, Canada, and the United States–now produce more barrels of oil than any other nation or region in the world. That number is 50% more than the Russian Federation, which is on the next rung of the production ladder.
There’s more to the story than just oil or gas production. “The total economic benefits of oil and gas exploration and development activity, including the multiplier effects, are estimated to include almost $1.2-Trillion in gross product each year,” says Tillerson. “Although the oil and gas industry, including its spin-off activity, is about 6.7% of the US economy, it has accounted for more than 30% of the growth since the trough of the recession,” he says.
The continued growth expectations are pretty exciting. “At Exxon-Mobil, we project that increases in population, along with growing trade and economic development will increase the global energy demand by about 30% between now and the year 2040,” he says. It is this growth, and the benefits of the industry’s investments and innovations, which have “made possible what many are calling America’s manufacturing renaissance,” says Tillerson. It’s difficult to fathom, but Tillerson says the level of growth and demand will be adding more than the current energy demand of Russia, India, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, combined.
(NASA)
The exciting part is how all this comes home. “The U.S. is in the midst of what can only be called a transformative moment in the history of energy, and Houston is at the center of this revolution,” says Tillerson. “Our continuing investment in the Greater Houston Area, I hope is seen as evidence that we believe strongly in this community, and confirms our believe, also, in the future of energy,” he says.
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