The U. S. economy has relied on inexpensive and abundant energy since becoming a world power. Technical advances in oil and gas discovery and extraction have allowed the world to increase the quantities of proved oil and gas. Unfortunately for the world supply of oil, a variety of issues have inhibited producers from maintaining a surplus of capacity in the world, thereby allowing crude prices to increase. Those issues include various government actions, continuing wars, red tape, nationalization, and terrorist activities. Transportation decisions made over the years have contributed to making the U. S. the giant oil consumer. Today, with the emerging economies of China, India and other developing nations the world-wide energy demand is growing faster than producing companies and countries have been able to bring on new supply resources. The United States continues to use large quantities of oil for transportation fuel.
This chart tells one of the consequences of the U. S. continuing to consume more oil than it produces – the growing trade deficit due to imported oil. As of March 2011, the U. S. imports oil on an annual basis of $420 billion dollars, a forecast made over 20 years ago by Lou Powers. While the oil volume was somewhat lower due to recent oil shale developments than forecast, the higher price made his prediction for our trade deficit. The ever increasing and escalating price of oil affects all energy commodities—coal, nuclear and eventually natural gas.
What does this mean to your family, your career and your life?
Lou Powers has studied that question for over 50 years. Now, he has put his experience , including serving as Aramco’s Chief Petroleum Engineer in two critical years, 1977-79, in writing to give you a better prospective of the future. In The World Energy Dilemma, Lou Powers shows the reader the results of his detailed analysis, covering the world’s energy supplies and suggests what is required to resolve the pending crises.
This book is about more than oil and gas. It is a review of where all forms of energy fit into the world energy supply demand equation.
The book details the technology improvements in Saudi Arabia since he was there and gives his own assessment of what Saudi Aramco will produce in the years ahead to supply the world.
One of the few regions of the world that could ultimately produce more oil is the Middle East and the 20 years of war has taken its toll. Without peace and stability, the Middle East countries’ potential to produce more oil for a hungry world will be limited, as illustrated in the adjoining figure. Now we have what has been tagged the Arab Spring. Where it goes no one knows.
This book is a must-read for those in the industry and for those who want to better understand what will be happening to them in the near future.