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U.S. Businessman Says Natural Gas Helps APEC Economy
Natural gas, the third fossil fuel along with the crude oil and coal, is in abundant supply and has tremendous potential to help the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies meet the energy supply shortage, a prominent U.S. businessman said here Saturday.
The consumption of crude oil and coal is expected to increase over the next 20 years, providing nearly 60 percent of worldwide energy consumption in the year 2020, according to Charles Williamson, Chief Executive Officer of the Unocal Corporation.
"The global economy will rely on fossil fuels for many years to come," Williamson said in a written speech delivered at the APEC CEO Summit, which opened on Friday.
"This is the reality that APEC policymakers, and all of us who work in the energy sector, must keep firmly in mind as we plan and invest," he added.
The importance of fossil fuels poses a major challenge for the APEC economies, Williamson noted. They need to develop and diversify energy supplies in order to meet future requirements for sustained economic growth in "an efficient, reliable, and environmentally responsible way."
Williamson indicated that crude oil and coal will continue to play "a significant role" in meeting the challenge of energy supplies. The fossil fuel can be made "cleaner and more efficient, " he added.
However, much of APEC economies will still have to import oil, which can be very costly, and technologies that can clean up coal use are too expensive, Williamson said.
Proved reserves of natural gas have doubled over the past 20 years and nearly 5,200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, equivalent of 886 billion barrels of crude oil, remain to be discovered, he noted.
"To put this in perspective, undiscovered supplies of natural gas are estimated to equal twice the total amount of gas the world has produced in its history."
A number of APEC economies enjoy abundant supplies of natural gas, and natural gas can serve as a large, indigenous energy supply, reducing dependence on energy imports and restricting the outflow of foreign reserves needed to pay for those imports, he said.
Natural gas can provide low-cost, efficient, and reliable power generation, Williamson said. "Its development builds a strong foundation for the growth of new business and industry, including electronics and manufacturing, which have significant peaking demands.
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