Exxon Predicts Energy Future For World At 2040

By 2040, half of all cars will be hybrids or running on alternative fuels; energy demand will be flat for the developed world but will increase 60% for developing nations, and non-conventional oil sources will handily meet the demand of 110m barrels.

1 minute read

December 13, 2011, 8:00 AM PST

By Irvin Dawid


Notwithstanding the huge jump in marketshare by 2040, "90 percent of the world's transportation will still run on oil-based fuels", the Exxon Mobil report predicted. In fact, according to William Colton, Exxon's strategic planning chief, the hybrid vehicles will only maintain oil's dominance as a transportation fuel because "the cheapest hybrids will be those that also use gasoline."

Nonetheless, environmentalists were pleased with this aspect of Exxon-Mobil's energy prediction regarding the widespread adoption of hybrid vehicles.

Deron Lovaas, Federal Transportation Policy Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said: "It's evidence that what the Obama administration is doing with fuel economy is working".

The report did stir some controversy within the fossil fuel industry as it predicted that natural gas, due to the boom in hydraulic fracturing, would replace coal as the second most widespread fuel behind oil - which was contested by the coal industry.

Thursday, December 8, 2011 in AP via Bloomberg Business Week

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