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Big Oil joins the debate
Shell president "shocked at how many people actually believe in the peak oil theory"
Dan Piller, Star-Telegram Staff
HOUSTON -- Major oil company executives made it clear Tuesday that they no longer intend to stand by idly while others set tax and environmental policies for their industry.

"It is important to share our understanding of our industry with the public and policymakers," Exxon Mobil Corp. Chairman Rex Tillerson said at the industry's most prestigious annual event, the Cambridge Energy Research Associates annual conference. More than 2,000 people from 44 countries are attending the conference.

Tillerson said that "the risk to society from climate change could be significant" and that Exxon Mobil intends to participate in public discussions about carbon emissions.

..."Shell decided that we had better move from a defensive posture to becoming more active in the public discussion of energy," [Shell President John Hofmeister] said. "It doesn't work for our industry to be at war with the public and policymakers."

Commenting on carbon emissions and global climate change, Hofmeister said: "The public says this is an issue, whether we like it or not."

...Hofmeister and his executives toured 25 U.S. cities last year conducting meetings with local residents and public officials. The results were sobering, he said.

"I was shocked at how many people actually believe in the peak oil theory," said Hofmeister, of a point of view held by some that the world is at the tipping point of supply and that extreme worldwide crude oil shortages are looming.

The energy industry and Cambridge Energy Chairman Daniel Yergin, whose book The Prize is considered the definitive history of the world oil industry, have hotly disputed the theory.

Hofmeister said he and other industry executives recently met with new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and, in Hofmeister's words, "invited ourselves to be part of the dialogue" over energy issues.
(14 Feb 2007)
Let us take heart from the observation of Shell President Hofmeister when he discovered, that so many people across America "actually believe in the peak oil theory."

I suspect that Big Oil's PR strategy is to proclaim "the end of cheap oil" and to disparage "peak oil" without entering into serious discussion about it. The strategy seeks to marginalize peak oil supporters as eccentric doomers, ignoring the geologists and retired members of the oil industry who are active in researching peak oil. -BA

Cheap Oil to Last, "Doomsday" Fears Overblown, Author Says
Brian Handwerk, National Geographic News
s the era of cheap oil really at an end? Or could a glut send prices into a freefall? Should Western countries fear energy blackmail from oil-rich powers?

There's no crystal ball to predict oil's future, but Leonardo Maugeri believes that much can be learned by looking at the industry's past.

Maugeri is the author of The Age of Oil: The Mythology, History, and Future of the World's Most Controversial Resource. As a senior vice president at the Italian oil corporation Eni SpA, he's also an oil-industry insider.

In his book Maugeri explains how prices affect the cycle of oil production and why he believes oil "doomsday theorists" are tapping an empty well.

Maugeri's theories often challenge conventional wisdom but are likely to become an essential part of the debate on oil's future.

He discussed his controversial ideas in an interview with National Geographic News.
(14 Feb 2007)

Chevron CEO calls for U.S. to triple ethanol use
Michael Erman, Reuters
Chevron Corp.'s (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) top executive called on Tuesday for the United States to triple the amount of ethanol it uses for transportation in the next decade, a target short of President George W. Bush's own plan to boost use of the biofuel.

Touting "policies of the pragmatic center," Chevron CEO David O'Reilly also said the world has reached a point where some sort of greenhouse gas management is necessary and proposed that the U.S. government authorize a modern seismic inventory of key areas in the Pacific, Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico regions.

...Speaking at Cambridge Energy Research Associates' CERA Week conference in Houston, he said that E-10 can be used in existing U.S. vehicles.

...On the topic of climate change, O'Reilly said the industry needs to work with government and the scientific community to find a "rational, cost-effective and risk-adjusted" solution.
(14 Feb 2007)

Exxon Mobil's Tillerson says focus is on meeting global demand for oil and gas
John Porretto, Associated Press
Exxon Mobil Corp.'s CEO says the world's largest publicly traded petroleum company is not in any hurry to find alternatives to oil and gas. If anything, the company must scramble to keep up with rising global demand for fossil fuels.

Chief Executive Rex Tillerson said Tuesday that the company is spending the bulk of its record profits on finding and producing new supplies of crude oil and natural gas. Moreover, Tillerson said Americans should recognize that biofuels and other renewables will continue to play a small, if growing, role in the global energy supply for years to come.

On the need to combat climate change, Tillerson touted a global approach, engaging the countries that use the most hydrocarbons.
(13 Feb 2007)

Oil CEO focuses on greenhouse gases
Chevron's O'Reilly wants national regulations
David R. Baker, SF Chronicle
David O'Reilly, CEO of Chevron Corp., called Tuesday for a nationwide system to manage greenhouse gases but stopped short of endorsing hard limits, as some other corporate leaders have done.

Speaking at an energy industry conference in Houston, O'Reilly warned against letting individual states take the lead in fighting climate change, a problem he said requires national and international coordination. States such as California and New York have been crafting rules to limit greenhouse gases, an approach O'Reilly said could create an expensive and inefficient patchwork of regulations.

While calling for a broad-based effort, O'Reilly did not specify how the nation and the world should combat global warming.

In an interview before the speech, O'Reilly said he isn't calling for a cap on emissions of carbon dioxide, the gas scientists consider most responsible for the Earth's rising temperatures.
(14 Feb 2007)