2 minute read
Energy, Climate and the Oil and Gas Industry Energy, Climate and the Oil and Gas Industry
This article is written
by Oliver C. Mullins, SLB Fellow
Advertisement
Energy and environmental concerns have become critical and are often deemed the highest priority of policymakers and general populations alike. The oil and gas industry is at the nexus of both energy and the environment, and its future must be mapped with great care. The standard of living scales with energy consumption over a huge range; the oil industry has lifted billions of people out of poverty, and there is no going back. Expectations of a better tomorrow are universal, and increasing energy consumption is realistically the only way this can be achieved. It is not acceptable to any population to suffer a 'temporary' reduction in the standard of living in order to achieve climate objectives.
Moreover, any negotiating of 'fair' sacrifices and distributions of burdens across the globe are fraught with precluding difficulties. In addition, the critical importance of energy security of individual nations beyond global energy needs has been strongly reinforced by recent geopolitical events. At the same time, global warming is a growing danger with potentially enormous consequences. The geologic record is clear that the earth's climate can change dramatically, both much hotter for example, at the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum and much colder, for example during 'snowball earth' phases. The role of CO2 and also CH4 are important controls on climate as strongly indicated in virtually all examinations of the record of earth's history.
A balanced approach is required to achieve energy and climate objectives simultaneously. All projections by nonpolitical agencies of energy production and utilization predict strong contributions from oil and gas for decades to come. And the fact remains that coal with its higher CO2 footprint than oil and gas is also expected to continue as a major source of energy particularly in very populous countries. Consequently, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is required in a balanced approach.
The oil and gas industry continues to achieve at the highest levels. The economic production of oil in Deepwater settings is almost miraculous, with reservoir depths that rival altitudes of commercial flights, that is, in excess of 30,000 feet. The engineering requirements for such an enterprise, especially at correspondingly high pressures and temperatures, are daunting yet achieved on a regular basis. Moreover, subsurface hydrocarbons vary from dry natural gas to tar, with all variants in between, and with variable quantities of other important components such as wax, CO2, and H2S. Reservoir rock formations and configurations also span an enormous range of characteristics and complexities. Nevertheless, the industry has tackled such challenges with great facilities.
The relatively new setting of extremely low permeability hydrocarbon-bearing formations, the socalled unconventional, has been unlocked by the development of innovative methods involving fracking. The oil and gas industry regularly invokes a confluence of scientific advances and engineering developments to achieve new heights. CCS in particular, as well as possible large-scale hydrogen storage, demands excellence in subsurface management. There is no industry better poised to manage complex and novel subsurface objectives than the oil and gas industry. The track record of the industry and meeting global energy requirements by tackling ever-increasingly difficult reservoirs is outstanding. The industry also maintains the flexibility to achieve various national objectives of governing bodies while satisfying global energy markets.
