President of Shell Oil urges more oil drilling

The United States is living on the “knife’s edge of a (energy) shortage,” but the country has plenty of energy sources for the future if Congress and other policymakers open more areas to oil drilling and provide incentives for developing other forms of energy.

That’s what John Hofmeister, 59, president of Houston-based Shell Oil Co., the U.S. arm of Royal Dutch Shell, told a group of El Paso business people Friday. Forbes ranks Royal Dutch Shell as the world’s third-largest company by revenues.
“Are we running out of energy? Not at all. That’s the good news,” Hofmeister said during a luncheon speech. “Why is it not more available? That’s the bad news,” and is tied to the lack of proper public policy for energy development, he said.

Hofmeister was in El Paso as part of his yearlong, 50-city energy-education tour. It’s aimed at improving the public’s unfavorable view of the oil and gas industry, and to get the public to better understand energy issues. He spoke at a Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce luncheon and also
had a town-hall meeting at the University of Texas at El Paso.

More offshore areas of the United States and more federal land need to be opened to oil drilling, Hofmeister said. Oil sands, oil shale, coal gasification, liquefied natural gas, biofuels, hydrogen fuel and windmills are less conventional but plentiful forms of energy that can be developed with government incentives, he said. Shell has projects in all those energy forms.

“There are 2 trillion barrels of unconventional oil and gas reserves locked in oil sands in Alberta, Canada, and in oil shale in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming,” Hofmeister said to give examples of where future energy supplies could be found.

El Paso Times