End of the Hydrocarbon Age

It seems that “Big Oil” is beginning to look at scenarios that have alternative energy sources to oil and gas. Four and a half years ago, two of the three “Bigs” were prominently playing alternatives into their long-range planning. British Petroleum (BP) had (and still does) an aggressive campaign on alternative energy sources, while Exxon continued to be focused solely on oil and gas.

That has changed as the new ad campaign from Exxon announced to the world that it too was seeking alternative energy sources. Watts originally spoke to reporters about Shell’s scenario planning in 2001. This long-range outlook of world energy has oil shrinking from 40 percent of the world’s energy source to 25 percent by 2050. Oil will still be the leader, with gas coming in at 20 percent in 2050. However, it is still quite a drop.

Where will the oil companies be in 2050? Will they still be strictly oil and gas? It certainly sounds like they won’t be.

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