Asian oil demand major opportunity for oil companies

Asian oil demand major opportunity for oil companies: Shell CEO

Kuala Lumpur (Platts)--13Jun2005


Energy demand over the next 30 years will grow at a much faster pace than the
last 30 years, particularly from expanding Asian economies, and meeting
demand, delivering secure supplies and finding solutions to pressing energy
problems will present great challenges and new opportunities for oil
companies, Shell chief executive Jeroen van der Veer said Monday. 

Delivering a state-of-the-industry address at the Asia Oil and Gas Conference
in Kuala Lumpur, Van der Veer spoke about the shifting patterns in the
industry and the challenges they posed. Import-dependent Asian demand growth
was a key change in the new era, Van der Veer said. "Oil consumption is
growing very fast in this part of the world and three-fourths of this will be
imported," he said. "With this reliance on imports, security of supply, not
only for governments but also for consumers, will become a key challenge and
issue," he added.

Energy intensity, measured as the amount of energy required to produce one
unit of output, which has been falling over the last 30 years, will start to
rise again as most energy demand growth comes from the Asian region which
relies on more energy-intensive industries, the Shell executive said.
Moreover, he noted that oil and gas was still to be found, but "easy to find"
resources had almost disappeared, calling for the need for more technology and
innovation. Unconventional oil and gas will go into play. Gas will become an
increasingly tradable commodity and oil companies will have to find ways to
create the delivery chains necessary for bringing much more natural gas to
market. The Kyoto protocol and carbon dioxide emissions will also have a major
impact on the industry, Van der Veer predicted. Meeting these challenges
required investment, innovation and integration, he said.

The complete story was originally published in Platts Global Alert 
http://globalalert.platts.com

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