BP's Bob Dudley Shares His Energy Thoughts - IHS CERAWeek

BP's Bob Dudley addressed the crowd at IHS CERAWeek to share the company's view of the industry industry. Mr. Dudley described the global energy journey and his view of the role of the US & Russia in the energy future. [ic-l]The global energy journey includes demand growth that is driven by Asian countries through 2030. Non-fossil fuels that will account for 1/5th of energy in 2030 and global oil demand is expected to rise by 16 mmbbls/d. The projected increase in oil demand is more than Canada, Russia, and the UAE produced in 2011.

Mr. Dudley stated "Turning to supply, many in the industry used to worry about whether demand on this scale could be met......but there hasn't been much talk of "peak oil" lately."

Shale and deepwater plays have driven oil and gas production higher to a point where we believe we have 54 years of proved oil reserves and 64 years of proved gas reserves.

North Dakota is only second to Texas in terms of production and has surpassed OPEC member Ecuador over the past few months.

 

Russia and the US are two energy giants who are driving supply. The US produced 5 mmbbl/d in 2008 and has recently eclipsed 7 mmbbls/d. The deepwater accounts for 18% of US daily production and plays like the Bakken and Eagle Ford has supported onshore production. Along with growing production, the country's import dependency is declining significantly.

Oilfield jobs are open across South Texas and much of the US. High paying oil and gas jobs have helped pull the economy out of the recession. BP is now positioning itself to invest significantly in downstream expansions. The Whiting refinery is expadning to handle growing volumes of Canadian crude. The expansion will be the largest economic investment in the history of Indiana. That will be followed by a $400 million reformer that is being added to the company's Toledo Refinery.

Mr Dudley ended his speech noting that recoverable reserves have grown considerably over the decades:

"...the world's energy companies have produced more oil in the last 40 years than was thought to exist on the entire globe in 1979."

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