Producers worldwide will continue to pursue deepwater drilling for natural gas and oil because the world will need a huge amount of fossil fuels for decades to come, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser said last month in Cape Town, South Africa.

Speaking at the Fortune Global Forum, Voser told attendees that offshore drilling has to continue despite the calamitous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Given the rise in the population and the rise in the developing world of energy needs, we will have to develop those resources in deep waters, so my expectation is that we will go forward with it — but it will need some changes,” Voser said.

“This is really based on our belief that the energy system going forward over the next few decades will actually need all the energy being developed.” Over the next 40 years, the world’s population will grow to 9.2 billion from 6.8 billion, doubling energy needs, Voser noted.

By 2050 fossil fuels still will comprise around 60% of the world’s energy use, which would be down from around 80% today, he said. Alternative fuels are forecast to make up most of the difference, but only if nuclear energy is included, said the Shell chief.

To encourage less oil production and a move toward more renewables, Shell favors imposing a tax on carbon because it would give the energy industry “certainty” going forward. In any case, however, Shell will continue to pursue more natural gas opportunities. “Let’s start with things we already have,” Voser said.

In May Shell agreed to pay close to $5 billion to gain a substantial foothold in the Marcellus Shale and increase its acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale (see NGI, May 31). Shell’s North America tight gas output in 2009 reached about 140,000 boe/d (810 MMcfe/d), a two-thirds increase (62%) from 2008 levels, from a 3.7 billion boe (21 Tcfe) resources base.

Gas is here and it’s available, unlike renewable fuels, which still have issues, the Shell chief said. It’s unlikely that renewable fuels can fill a gap from using less fossil fuels — or reduce pollution in the short run.

“Some of those renewables will use scarce resources so we have to be careful not to create new problems,” he noted.

Regarding the beefed-up offshore drilling safety regulations that are being considered in the United States, Voser told attendees that they are “pretty much in line with our global standards.”

Voser also got in a dig at rival BP plc, mirroring some recent remarks made by a Shell executive at a House subcommittee hearing concerning the BP-operated Macondo well (see NGI, June 21).

“We have revamped all of our designs and safety procedures,” Voser said. “From a Shell point of view, we would not have drilled this well in the same way.”

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