With the U.S. political season now in full swing, some of the candidates are focusing on the idea of the country becoming “energy independent” with such phrases as “America must break the tyranny of oil” or “We can’t allow dictators to enslave the American people.”
Why are they doing this?
Never mind the facts and statistics. If the rhetoric creates a positive result in the polls, it’s OK.
Most Americans don’t understand the global energy trade. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration 70 percent of our total energy supply is produced domestically – mostly from coal and natural gas, the main source of energy for generation of electricity. The reason we are not – and likely never will be – energy independent, is that 60 percent of our oil supply is produced outside the United States.
Canada is the largest supplier, followed by Mexico.
Even though newly enacted conservation measures signed into law in December 2007 will somewhat reduce demand in the United States, the growing need for energy in developing economies worldwide will most likely cause an increase in consumption in future years.
Where is the peak of world oil production? Depends on whose curve you view. I have seen curves that peak from 2010 to 2047. Generally, the more recent graphs show a more distant peak.
Could this be due to ever advancing technology and significant new international discoveries (as reported in the January 2007 EXPLORER)?
Bottom line: This is a great opportunity for new geosciences graduates to enter the petroleum industry!
PTTC Moves Ahead
AAPG is moving ahead with [PFItemLinkShortcode|id:11362|type:standard|anchorText:managing the operations of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council|cssClass:asshRef|title:76 Workshops Set For PTTC Schedule |PFItemLinkShortcode].
The regional lead organizations in six U.S. regions have plans to offer 26 workshops this year. These workshops will cover a wide variety of geological and engineering topics.
We anticipate that some of the workshops may be offered in our AAPG international Regions.
On January 22, Rick Fritz, Jim Blankenship, Lance Cole and I met with Society of Petroleum Engineers’ staff in Dallas to explain in detail our offer to bring SPE into the program as a member of the corporation. The workshop schedule seems like a natural fit for both AAPG and SPE members.
The SPE Board will consider our proposal in late March.
APPEX
As this issue of the EXPLORER is delivered I will be en route to London for AAPG’s Prospect and Property Expo, which will be held March 5-7.
This expo will include sessions on Russia, Asia and Australasia, Africa and the Middle East, Europe and the Arctic region and South and Central America and the Caribbean, as well as exhibitor presentations on specific farmouts and prospects.
APPEX also includes technical sessions; in fact, one could say that APPEX is the NAPE of the world outside of North America.
I’m certainly looking forward to the Expo, as well as my visit to Aberdeen to meet with an exploration group and students at the University of Aberdeen.
Cheers!