Tony
HAYWARD

‘Few More Fundamental Issues in the World Than This’

BY LARRY NATION, AAPG Communications Director

Tony Hayward sees the global energy crisis at the top of the agenda for the planet to solve, “as there are few more fundamental issues in the world than this.”

Hayward cities the future growing demand for energy and said energy security is crucial in a world where reliable, cheap and plentiful energy is taken for granted.

Speaking to a DPA luncheon crowd at the ICE in Milan, the former BP CEO and now CEO of the multi-billion-dollar Vallares, a publicly held stock investment company focused on the energy sector, saying there is “no magic solution” to ensuring energy security, and that realistic approaches are vital.

Hayward, an AAPG member who gave a special presentation on the Cusiana discovery in Colombia at the AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition in 1994 in Denver, sees three key areas to look for answers to the energy situation:

♦ Diversity – “We are creating diverse supplies – diverse from what it is as well as where it comes from,” he said.

He noted “Iraq has the potential to produce 10 million barrels a day in the next 20 years,” and also cited the potential of the U.S. continental shelf areas.

“We must be realistic about the contribution renewables and unconventionals can make to the energy mix,” he added, and he was optimistic that nuclear power can rebound from the setbacks from the Japan earthquake.

♦ Competition – Hayward said competition fosters the efficiencies and new technologies that are needed.

♦ Efficiency – “This is the easiest way to ease the growing demand – including appliances and making auto engines more efficient,” he said.

Hayward noted that it is important to choose the lowest cost-energy pathway to lower emissions – which for the foreseeable future is natural gas.

Also, he said “growing U.S. gas reserves loom large in the marketplace, with supplies growing 12-fold in the last decade and gas offering the greatest potential to lower greenhouse gases.”

On the climate change issue, Hayward said he is “seeing an emergence of realism.

“The key is alignment – not agreement,” he said. “There can’t be a one-size fits all solution.” EXPLORER E icon.eps