By Julian Salazar Velásquez
Editor. Note: Julián Salazar Velásquez is a geologist and petroleum engineer with nearly 50 years working in the oil industry of Mexico and Venezuela. A leading educator and free-market energy advocate, he is the author of numerous articles and Gerencia Integrada de Campos de HidrocarburoS (2020), a brief document on the oil industry value chain. His four-part worldview begins today and continues this week in Part II, Part III, and Part IV.
The current description of the oil and gas industry is not only inaccurate but disturbing. In the more than two years that I have taught at conferences, in courses, in articles, and in my books—I have seen unfounded dogma threatening progress and prosperity in nations. like ours.
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In December 2021 at Oil and Gas MagazineI published”Energy conversion or conversion? What to do in the face of a global campaign against the oil industry with political threats of anti-fracking and global warming?”
I spoke about the article at the American Petroleum Association in Venezuela (VAPA), Venamerica, and “Colegio de Ingenieros de Venezuela—Monagas” (CIV-MONAGAS). Conference title–”Two major threats to the oil industry today: anti-fracking and global warming.”– refers to legal bans based on unfounded catastrophic environmental impacts.
The supposed danger of CO2 Emissions from the use of fossil fuels have been widely propagated in public opinion and agencies. I have warned of the anti-oil and gas campaigns and protests that have developed in Europe, Canada, the United States and Latin America against fossil fuels, even advocating for bans that will cause devastating consequences for the future of humanity. In fact, mineral fuels and petrochemical derivatives have been banned, not only for the exploration and production of non-conventional shale deposits, but also for activities in the industry value chain. hydrocarbon industry.
In the 2017 edition of my book Gerencia Integrada de Campos de Hidrocarburos, I consider these threats to be temporary. I was optimistic thinking about the question: Does the oil industry have a future? On that occasion I mentioned with conviction:
I can say with high probability that this sector will continue to expand to meet the growing demand for energy, so that oil and gas will continue to be the most widely available at low cost. the shortest. On the other hand, alternative energy sources will grow in tandem, sharing the market as they become more competitive.
Five years later, I now see that things have gotten worse. Not only has the stance against oil and gas become more extreme, but the actions of international political leaders are blatantly advocating wind and solar-generated energy. Most recently, activists are trying to establish barriers in the international financial system to oil, gas, and coal, based on “net zero strategy, decarbonization, green energy, renewable energy and energy transition,” with the argument of saving the planet from the supposed negativity of “global warming,” or as it is now called “climate change.”
International protests in Europe, the United States, Canada and Latin America, (Figure 1) has received support from the government and radical environmental groups, supported by left-wing political groups. As a result, their growing reach, with a strong influence on governmental and non-governmental organizations of civil society, is corroborated by the following adverse outcomes:
- Bans and suspensions of exploration and production of unconventional shale deposits in Europe, Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia and some states of the United States and Canada. Petroleum is produced from this deposit only in the US, Canada, Argentina and China.
- Stopping the US 1,700-mile Keystone XL Pipeline is through an executive order. This project is intended to transport 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from oil fields in western Canada to refineries in Texas.
- The leftist candidate promised to stop all oil exploration, both conventional and unconventional in Colombia, and ban oil exploration, which is in the works after being elected president in June. year 2022.
- The rise of campaigns against industry and oil use by radical environmental groups, sponsored by NGOs has influenced the policies of countries against the use of fossil fuels. fossil material. (Figure 2)
- The price of oil, gas and its derivatives increased — after the pandemic and the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war, due to decreased production and increased demand, along with the following global energy crisis there; Additionally, short-term energy supply issues this winter of 2022 in Europe and North America.
(Continued in Part 2)
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