Is the industry doing enough to develop new technology quickly and efficiently to help meet growing world consumption?
Within the upstream oil and gas industry, a great deal is being done all the time to deploy breaking technology. Where technology is lagging, however, is in controlling the world’s insatiable growth in energy consumption. For example, while oil recovery in new fields is achieving 50% of the oil in place and exploration successes are hitting 30 to 40%, gasoline is still subsidized in India and China as well as in other parts of the world, modern diesel is popular in Europe but not in North America, and 14-mpg vehicles are still being made and sold on a daily basis. The need for new technology among energy consumers is as critical as it is among the upstream producers and downstream refiners.