Renowned energy strategist sees extraordinary changes ahead

As he prepared to discuss the future of the world’s oil and natural gas business, Henry Groppe, a renowned oil and gas strategist and founder of the Groppe, Long & Littell consulting firm in Houston, urged his audience to keep two things in mind:

“One is the dominance of the oil and gas industry. It is part of everything in the world; it is vital to world economies and it has now passed agriculture as the biggest industry in the world. At a $60 price, the world’s crude oil business is $1.75 trillion a year. Second, keep in mind that there are extraordinary changes ahead for Texas and for the United States.”

Groppe, the luncheon speaker at Thursday’s Fueling the Future Energy Conference, said he believes the world is facing a permanent oil shortage and is moving into a new era.

There are, he said, two dominant schools of thought on the future of the oil industry. “One is represented by my good friend Matt Simmons, who sees the imminent collapse of oil production and the end of oil as an available commodity. Then there is the Department of Energy and companies like Shell and Exxon who say production will be increased by 50 percent in the next 20 years. We disagree with both camps.”

Midland Reporter-Telegram