Finding the energy

Gerald Schotman, chief technology officer of Shell, says the future of energy supply lies in a combination of fossil fuels and alternative power sources

Gerald Schotman, the chief technology officer of Royal Dutch Shell, the world's second largest oil company after Exxon Mobil of the US, says the world will face multiple challenges as it tries to meet energy demand over the next few decades.

First, global energy demand is forecast to double by 2050, when the world's population is expected to reach 9 billion, up from the current 7 billion.

This means more oil and gas sources will have to be found and developed, along with other renewable and alternative sources of energy such as bio-fuels, solar and wind power.

However, fossil fuels will remain indispensable for foreseeable future. Oil and gas will still account for as much as two-thirds of the world's total energy supply by 2050.

The way forward, he says, is to promote the use of hybrid energies - a combination of both fossil fuels and alternative energies.

The second challenge is that there is an urgent need for better management of carbon dioxide emissions, to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Last but not least, oil and gas are becoming much harder and more expensive to find and develop.

In this context, new technology and operational excellence are crucial to success. Regarding Shell, he says the firm will not be able to provide all the answers to these concerns, so building partnerships is important.

He cites new cooperation between Shell and computer maker Hewlett-Packard as an example of partnership beyond the oil industry.

"Together, we have developed a seismic system to provide a clearer understanding of the earth's sub-surface, so as to help discover more oil and gas.

"HP brings very extensive technology while Shell contributes advanced geophysical expertise in seismic data acquisition.

"In 2011, we had a breakthrough in the sensing technology of the noise floor, which is a measure of the smallest acceleration it can detect over a range of frequencies. This was demonstrated to be equal to the noise measured at the quietest locations on earth as caused by ocean waves hitting the earth's shorelines," said Schotman at a Bangkok conference entitled "Technology and Pperational Excellence: Keys to Sustainable Global Energy."

Such a technological breakthrough will allow the oil and gas industry to find new sources of energies in the near future amid the rising demand.

Regarding operational excellence, he says the Pearl Gas-to-Liquids project in Qatar is a good example.

"This is the world's largest gas production and GTL project. It turns natural gas from Qatar's offshore North Field into cleaner burning fuels and lubricants on a large scale - 140,000 barrels per day of GTL products plus another 120,000 barrels daily of liquid gas products and ethane.

"Before Pearl, the industry considered that you had good performance if you completed a production well in the North Field in 75 days, but we completed 22 wells for Pearl in an average of 45 days," he says.

In his opinion, both new technology and operational excellence will allow the industry to find more oil and gas in the coming decades, albeit at a higher cost of development and production.

As an energy scientist, Schotman believes that the world is not running out of hydro-carbon energy yet, as the supply of crude oil will be sufficient for another 100 years while the supply of gas should last another 200 years.