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“OIL INDUSTRY WILL BE UNABLE TO MEET WORLD DEMAND OVER NEXT 25 YEARS” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H7960-H7961 on July 17, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
OIL INDUSTRY WILL BE UNABLE TO MEET WORLD DEMAND OVER NEXT 25 YEARS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the oil industry admitted this week that it will be unable to meet world demand over the next 25 years. In case anyone still needed a wake-up call about the importance of energy independence, surely, that is that call.
Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reported on page 2 that a U.S. government-commissioned study, a study conducted by the oil industry itself, reveals that oil and gas supplies will not keep pace with worldwide demand through the year 2030.
According to the oil industry study, demand is expected to increase between 50 and 60 percent due to mounting consumption in the developed world, plus the growing economies of China and India.
According to the Journal, the finding suggests that far from being temporary, high energy prices are likely for decades to come. The study's conclusions appear to be the first explicit concession by the petroleum industry itself that it cannot meet the burgeoning global demand for oil, which may rise as much as 120 million barrels a day by 2030 up from 84 million barrels a day currently.
These findings are consistent with what the United States Government already reported in February through the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. They projected world liquids demand to increase to 117 million barrels per day in 2030.
They also projected the real price of crude oil in 2030 to be about
$95 in nominal terms, which would be over $59 a barrel in this year's dollars, and the price of natural gas to be $9.50 per 1,000 cubic feet. In other words, the U.S. Government itself, through the Energy Information Administration, an arm of our Department of Energy, acknowledges we will become more dependent on foreign energy in coming years. Not less dependent, but more dependent. Not more independent, but more dependent. To me, that is not acceptable.
For the consumer, it means higher and higher gasoline prices. For the economy, it means higher trade deficits and slower growth. For our Government, for our Nation, it means less independence, greater entanglements and likely more wars.
President Bush has talked about energy independence. But what has he really done? In his most recent State of the Union, he talked about ending our addiction to oil and everybody dutifully applauded, but we are more dependent on foreign energy sources today than we were 6 years ago when he mouthed the words, indeed. Under his administration, this country is importing 1 billion more barrels of oil since he first took office. Today, we are importing three-quarters of the petroleum it takes to drive this economy.
Now, the Presidential candidates are criss-crossing our country, and each candidate has a piece in their stump speech that mentions the words, ``energy independence.'' But will any of them deliver anything significant on these promises?
I have introduced a number of bills which will move America toward real energy independence. My Biofuels Energy Independence Act of 2007, H.R. 2218, protects our feedstocks from commodity price distortions, and we see what's happening in the ethanol market and the biodiesel market today. We ought to have broad ownership of that industry and not allow the cartelized structure that characterizes today's oil and gas industry to be repeated in this new biofuels sector.
I am proud to be part of a coalition here supporting H.R. 969, a bill to expand the renewable energy standard and the renewable energy portfolio to spawn new energy production in this country and new business and new jobs related to it, to capture all those dollars that we are siphoning up and sending to other countries, to turn those around and bring them back home.
I have a bill to supplement the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, H.R. 682, with domestically produced biofuels. Soon I will be introducing the Energy Smart Communities Act that encourages and aids local jurisdiction undertaking energy efficiency initiatives, including solar roofs and wind turbines across our country.
My goal has always been simple, to devote the resources it will take to reinvent our economy and transform our energy portfolio in this century, in the first decade of this century. Our Nation is, indeed, at a crossroads, and the stakes are in plain sight. Do we travel the road of independence, creating jobs here at home, making affordable energy available to our consumers and businesses, or do we remain in the grip of the petrol kingdoms of the Middle East?
Do we issue a new declaration of energy and independence from foreign control, or do we allow our foreign policy to be perverted by our addiction to oil? Do we get serious about climate change and move aggressively to develop cleaner, safer, alternative fuels, or do we leave our future in the hands of the world oil oligarchy? The choice is ours.
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