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Meeting demand
The world is using more and more energy. Energy use in 2050 is expected to be double what it is today. The main reason is population growth - from six billion to more than nine billion people. This increase, combined with higher prosperity throughout the world, will see more people buying cars, bigger homes to heat or cool, and more power-hungry gadgets.
Around 80% of this energy comes from fossil fuels and they will remain our dominant energy source for some time to come.
However, while a hundred years ago, oil would seep up to the earth’s surface making it easy to collect, the oil and gas we have relied on to power our lives is getting more difficult to reach and recover – in harsher environments and in deeper and more complex reservoirs. And on its own, this easy oil will not be enough.
So to meet demand today means not leaving behind the oil we know we can reach and finding ways to unlock the oil we thought we couldn’t. It also means being more energy efficient in how we carry out our business and providing the products that will help others use less energy too.
It also means looking to sources beyond oil and gas that can power our lives in the future. Technology has always been at the center of the energy industry and today, combined with great minds, we look to it to help us address our biggest challenge yet – the energy challenge.
Getting more
With up to 70% of oil being left behind in the reservoir because it is too difficult or costly to recover, Shell is using technology to ‘squeeze’ more out. Enhanced oil recovery is the key technology here – enabling the remaining oil to flow in to the wells and up to the surface.
Advanced drilling techniques and technologies are also helping us to access valuable oil and gas with wells that go on for many miles and snake around underground obstacles to reach multiple small reservoirs. And by finding ways to safely and cost effectively transport gas, we can put more of this resource to use even when it is far away from where it’s needed.
Finding new and unconventional resources
Getting everything we can from reservoirs we already know about, however, may still not be enough to meet demand. We need to keep searching for the undiscovered reserves of oil and gas. Exploration technologies and super computing mean we can now ‘see’ under the surface of the earth to find where it lies.
And we continue to search for ways to unlock the world’s vast resources of difficult or ‘unconventional’ oil and gas resources. Previously thought too difficult and costly to extract, by applying some clever thinking and completely new technology solutions, we’re getting closer to the answer.
Creating alternatives
And finally, meeting rising demand will increasingly involve finding energy sources beyond oil and gas. The world of science and technology is working hard to find long-term, sustainable and renewable energy solutions.
One day might we be driving cars powered on fuel made from algae or wood chips?
Research and development in second generation biofuels that do not compete with food crops could make this a reality. Developing technologies that allow the cost-effective production of solar panels could mean that harnessing the power of the sun is affordable to all. And we continue to investigate ways to use more of nature’s strengths such as wind and water.