On March 22, the five-day Cambridge Energy Week ended in Houston, the "energy capital" of the United States. The meeting was held on "Multi-dimensional Energy Transformation:Markets, Climate, Technology and Geopolitics." Unlike the three keywords used as the theme of the conference in the past three years, this conference selected four keywords of "market, climate, technology and geopolitics" as the theme, which also reflects that the current global energy transformation is in a complex environment with multiple challenges.

Global oil demand remains strong

At this Cambridge Energy Week, the future development trend of oil demand has become the focus of discussion among many industry insiders. The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicted in October last year that demand for oil, coal and natural gas would peak before the end of 2030. This prediction was questioned by many representatives at this session.

Many participants said that fossil fuel consumption is expected to continue to rise for many years to come. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser spoke bluntly on the first day of the meeting:"At this stage, policymakers should abandon the illusion of 'phasing out oil and natural gas', as demand for fossil fuels will continue to rise in the next few years." He emphasized that wind and solar energy together currently account for less than 4% of the global energy supply, and the penetration rate of electric vehicles is less than 3%. In contrast, in the 21st century, hydrocarbons 'share of the global energy mix fell from only 83% to 80%. Helen Curry, chief economist of ConocoPhillips, also said that oil demand has been very strong in both developed countries and emerging markets, and global oil demand is expected to hit a record high this year. Also holding the same view is Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah, CEO of Kuwait Oil Company. He believes that between now and 2050, the world's population will grow by about 25%, and energy demand will grow faster, which means that more energy will be needed to meet the world's needs. In addition, CEOs of Shell, ExxonMobil and Petrobras also expressed their agreement with Nasser's views at the meeting.

Unlike previous meetings, which were keen to discuss the market share battle between U.S. shale oil producers and OPEC, the discussion of the oil price war at this meeting has been replaced by concerns about energy security issues. Daniel Yekin, vice chairman of S & P Global, said that with the increase in geopolitical conflicts and their impact on oil and gas prices, energy security issues have been put on the "table" again. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods believes energy security is more important than ever.

In view of this,"oil and natural gas will remain the core part of the energy structure in the next few decades" has become the consensus of many representatives. Many oil companies said in their speeches that "ensuring stable and reliable supply of oil and gas" will be a development priority. Joelson Mendes, director of exploration and production at Petrobras, said it will invest US$7.5 billion in oil and gas exploration off Brazil's coast over the next five years. Shell CEO Weiswang also said that Shell is working hard to stabilize oil production and streamline investment in renewable energy, while striving to leverage its advantages in the global natural gas and liquefied natural gas fields.

Apply digital technology to accelerate energy transformation

Amid the rapid changes in the energy landscape, there is always a question-how to find a balance between growing energy demand and changing energy supply while achieving sustainable development? Faced with challenges such as market fluctuations and geopolitical tensions, the energy industry is seeking solutions from technology. During this Cambridge Energy Week, delegates mentioned the importance of digital technology in energy transformation on many occasions.

At present, the digital economy era of mass production, sharing and application of digital technology has begun. Delegates have called for digital technology to play a greater role in the entire energy value chain. Among them, blockchain technology was regarded by many guests as one of the breakthroughs in the combination of traditional energy business and digital technology. Rebecca Hofmann, president and CEO of the non-profit organization Blockchain For Energy, said that blockchain has the characteristics of distributed storage, traceability, tampering prevention, sharing and sharing, which can not only provide solutions to the current difficulties in the digital energy business, but also create a new trust framework to promote interaction and cooperation among participants in the energy industry. At the same time, the role of blockchain in controlling carbon emissions was also recognized at the meeting. Gino Hernandez, digital director of ABB, the world's leading power and automation technology group, said that blockchain technology is based on a distributed concept to open up the whole process of the whole industry, so as to clearly understand the carbon emissions of all aspects of the product life cycle, which is conducive to the whole process of monitoring and recording carbon emission data.

The application of artificial intelligence in energy production and carbon emission reduction is also one of the hot topics of this session. Energy executives from around the world are very optimistic about the potential of artificial intelligence. They believe that artificial intelligence will bring major changes to oilfield drilling and development, production and management. In particular, generative artificial intelligence is expected to optimize energy use and improve operational efficiency. ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance called artificial intelligence "a huge change" and said it will affect every company attending the meeting. Ben Lecock, global oil head at commodity trader Trafigura, believes that artificial intelligence technology will be a major driving force in maintaining and improving U.S. oil and gas production.

In fact, the application of artificial intelligence technology has become an important trend in the oil and gas industry. Olivier Le Peuch, CEO of SLB, said the company has applied artificial intelligence technology to robotic drilling and extend the production life of aging wells. BP CEO Murray Auchincloss is optimistic about the application potential of artificial intelligence in the field of oil and gas trade. Microsoft founder Bill Gates said at this Energy Week that Microsoft is helping companies and organizations of all sizes unleash the power of data and artificial intelligence to accelerate energy transformation and create data-driven digital foundation for a sustainable future.

Explore multiple paths to address climate challenges

Over the years, attention has been growing to climate issues at Cambridge Energy Week. With the implementation of new incentives for clean technology in the United States and the implementation of carbon caps and tariff policies in Europe and other major markets, industry leaders 'interest in clean technology has further increased. "Geothermal heat, CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage), hydrogen energy", etc. have become high-frequency words in this session.

As a renewable energy source, geothermal energy has many advantages such as large amount of resources, high energy utilization efficiency, and good energy conservation and emission reduction effects. At the "Innovation Fair"(Agora) of this Energy Week, at least 11 companies in the geothermal field appeared, and a number of thematic discussions and promotion activities were arranged around geothermal power generation. During the meeting, the U.S. Department of Energy also released the much-watched "Next Generation Geothermal Power Generation Launch Report", saying that it can become one of the key contributors to decarbonization of power generation in the United States and is expected to be commercialized in the United States in 2030. said Sarah Jewett, vice president of strategy at Houston-based geothermal startup Fervo:"This will bring an exciting wave of excitement to the geothermal energy industry. This report clarifies a roadmap for actual investment and deployment of geothermal energy, making geothermal part of the broader energy dialogue."

Oil companies have unique advantages in developing geothermal business. The technology, experience and engineering implementation capabilities accumulated during the oil and gas development process can be integrated with the geothermal business to promote the optimization and upgrading of the geothermal industry. Cindy Taff, CEO of Sage Geosystems, another Houston-based geothermal startup, said that many oil and gas companies want to use technology in the oil and gas field to promote energy transformation. I think the most suitable area is geothermal. There are many transferable technologies between the two fields. Terra Rogers, director of the hyperthermal rock energy program of the Clean Air Task Force, a U.S. environmental organization, also called for more oil and gas companies to participate in the development of geothermal energy. he said:"How to reduce costs and promote the application of new technologies is an obstacle to commercial applications of geothermal energy. Oil companies are well positioned to overcome these obstacles, help commercialize advanced technologies, and become leaders in efforts to combat climate change."

In addition, CCS and hydrogen, as important means to deal with global climate change, were also endorsed by many companies at this meeting. Darren Woods said ExxonMobil has deployed a comprehensive low-carbon hydrogen, ammonia and carbon capture facility in Bay City, USA, and is expected to produce approximately 1 billion cubic feet of low-carbon hydrogen per day. The CCS infrastructure will be capable of transporting and storing up to 10 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Zoe Yujnovich, Shell's head of integrated natural gas and upstream, cited Shell's cooperation with Total Energy and Statoil of Norway on the Northern Lights project, which is the world's first project to allow cross-border transportation of carbon dioxide and implement seabed geological storage. Yujnovich said:"Achieving the transportation of carbon dioxide can expand the commercial use of CCS and encourage industries such as cement and steel production that are difficult to reduce emissions to join." Also focusing on CCS and hydrogen energy businesses is Petrobras. During the meeting, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's Mitsui & Co., Ltd. to assess low-carbon business opportunities in Brazil. The partnership includes assessing potential opportunities for CCS and sustainable production of hydrogen and its derivatives.

Global climate change is a complex and urgent issue."Ensuring energy security, increasing the application of digital technology, and developing clean and renewable energy" is not only the consensus of the energy industry, but also the direction of action generally recognized by the international community. But as James Rosenfeld, co-founder of Cambridge Energy Week, said,:"There is no one-size-fits-all solution to future challenges." Global energy transformation is a non-linear development process with multiple dimensions and different speeds, requiring multiple solutions to be linked and promoted in a coordinated manner.

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