Big Oil Clashes Over Fossil Fuel Future
By Charles Kennedy – Mar 02, 2021, 9:00 AM CST
Executives from major oil companies clashed over the prospects of oil and gas for the future at the first virtual edition of the CERAWeek conference in Houston.
While BP’s Bernard Looney and Shell’s Ben van Beurden boasted about their shift away from their core business and into renewable energy, Baker Hughes, Hess Corp., and Spain’s Repsol were among those believing that fossil fuels have yet to leave the scene for good, the Houston Chronicle’s Paul Takahashi reports.
“We’ve been an oil and gas company for 112 years, and I think this is a moment where we do have to reinvent the company,” BP’s Looney said. “We decided to really embrace that energy transition, more as a massive opportunity and not look at it as some sort of threat to our core business.”
“Hydrocarbons are still going to be essential for providing energy to the world, especially in the near term,” Baker Hughes’ Lorenzo Simonelli said, echoing an earlier statement that “There is no scenario where hydrocarbons disappear,” as expressed in his opening speech at the Baker Hughes annual meeting held last month.
As per the Houston Chronicle’s report, Hess Corp. and Carlyle International Partners shared their belief that demand for oil and gas will, in fact, rise over the next ten years despite the international push towards cleaner energy sources.
“We’re in a V-shaped recovery for demand,” Hess chief executive John Hess said, as quoted by Chron. “Once inventories are drawn down and we get rid of the glut, the challenge will be investment, and we’re going to need stronger prices to encourage that investment.”
Indeed, oil price movements seem to support the pro-fossil fuel view. Despite President Joe Biden’s—and the European Union’s—green agenda, the news of mass vaccinations and stimulus programs for the world’s largest economies have served to boost oil prices, suggesting that market players expected a demand rebound.
On the other hand, if governments dedicated to reducing their use of fossil fuels continue with the same enthusiasm, the long-term prospects of oil, at least, are likely to darken before too long.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
