On the heels of another successful.and milestone tenth.Global Energy Awards celebration in December of last year, Platts now turns its attention to a new decade of seeking to uncover, and honor, all that is great in the oft-changing and never boring global energy industry.
The next ten years appear poised to be as tumultuous as the previous ten. Indeed, with the net impact of the financial crisis still being played out, the global energy industry will not enter this next decade without its fits and starts. As financial institutions around the world continue to find their footing, potential energy-related investments could continue to be adversely affected. The ills of the global credit markets have made it increasingly difficult for many companies to raise funds and with declines in oil demand, price volatility and delays in major energy investments, the reverberation of the slow-down is likely to continue.
Of course it's not all doom and gloom for one of the biggest industries in the world. Developing economies in the Asia Pacific region will play a key role in demand growth over the next several years and oil and gas consumption in many of the producing countries in the Middle East should continue to rise as income from oil revenues are spent.
As for electricity production, natural gas demand is expected to grow as importing countries seek more of the cleaner burning fuel to power a tandem increase in demand for electric power generation. Nuclear energy, for similar reasons, is also expected to grow with many nuclear power generating countries making plans to increase their installed capacity through the development of additional reactors. Meanwhile, coal will continue to power nearly 40 percent of global electric power production with China and India accounting for a significant amount of that number.
For countries heavily dependent on imported energy sources, concerns still loom about vulnerabilities related to foreign resources. As a result, more domesticassets will be sought, but the search will look different by region and economy. In developed countries, the focus may be more slanted toward alternative, renewable and clean energy development, while in developing lands, conventional hydrocarbon exploration will receive greater attention.
Regardless of how the future energy landscape takes shape, the next ten Global Energy Award ceremonies will reflect the great decisions, strategies and advancements that are sure to happen. Welcome to the 2009 (and beyond) Platts Global Energy Awards.
