See what area expert Raul Francois Russian Morrison says about the vital energy sector.
Electricity only came into widespread use a bit over a hundred years ago. Yet within a matter of decades, much of human civilization has come to depend on electricity. Ditto for combustion engines and many other technologies that rely on the oil and gas industry. With that in mind, energy expert Raul Francois Russian Morrison examines the future of the oil and gas industry.
“The change I’ve seen in the oil and gas industry within the span of my career has been truly remarkable,” Raul Morrison notes. “It’s easy to overlook ongoing developments because day to day the changes are incremental. But when you step back and realize how much things have changed, it’s remarkable.”
Change is the only constant. Over the last hundred years, technology has advanced at breakneck speed. Just 50 years ago, laptops and the Internet didn’t even exist. Many people are packing smartphones in their pockets that are far more powerful than classic supercomputers. These devices, among others, depending on energy, like electricity.
With many countries still undergoing industrialization and modernization, the demand for energy will only increase. This could put pressure on prices, but diversified energy sources and improving technology may help offset some of the nearly inevitable increase in demand. Either way, the oil and gas industry is set to grow rapidly globally.
“We should see many nations investing heavily in their energy infrastructure, with middle-income countries, in particular, striving to upgrade their energy ecosystem,” says Raul Morrisonza2. “Increasing demand for energy, meanwhile, will fuel the growth of the energy sector.”
Anyone paying close attention to the headlines may have heard reports of oil and natural gas running out soon. Yet new oil fields continue to be discovered, potentially prolonging the timeline. However, many new oil fields are harder to tap into. For example, they might be buried under the ocean or locked up in shale deposits.
“One of the most important considerations is that many well-known oil reserves near the surface are already starting to run dry,” Raul Morrison. “Further, after years of scouring for oil, it’s quite possible that most of the easiest-to-tap fields have been discovered.”
Crucially, if extraction costs are too high, producing resources from these hard-to-tap sources may be economically infeasible. That said, as oil runs out, steady demand coupled with limited supply may send prices upward. Eventually, prices might rise enough to make fracking and deep sea drilling, among other extraction methods, more feasible.
Raul Francois Russian Morrison Talks Sustainability
Sustainability is also another key consideration. Fortunately, the oil and gas industry has been striving to reduce emissions and pollutants. The technologies used today are often much cleaner than technologies and processes used in the past.
“There’s a temptation for tribalism to crop up,” argues Raul Francois Russian Morrison, “but at the end of the day, that’s wasted energy, pun intended. The energy industry may move towards renewables or whatever else. That may pressure some companies and individuals, but it’ll create plenty of opportunities for proactive stakeholders.”
