How To Make Biodiesel

Apr. 6–Politicians who call for U.S. energy independence are engaging in rhetoric and poor leadership, says the vice chairman of the second largest oil company in the United States. “It is not going to happen,” said Peter J. Robertson, of Chevron Corporation. “It may be politically attractive to say we don’t need to import foreign oil, but this is an interdependent world.” Energy security will come from a variety of sources, Robertson said, while warning that Congress should not impose new taxes on the oil industry that truncate needed investment. Robertson was in Billings last week as part of a program by Chevron to encourage a multisource policy of energy efficiency, conservation and development that will, in its view, provide the United States with a more secure energy supply in the next 20 years. There is a range of options that will help meet increased demand, he said. Efficiency is one piece of the policy and it includes improved technology and conservation. It is about cars and fuels and insulation. “We are not talking about a crash diet,” he said. “As prices increase, economics will drive behavior.” As an example, he said Chevron since 1992 has become 27 percent more efficient in its own use of energy. Robertson spoke to a framework of enhancing the country’s energy security proposed by The Energy Security Leadership Council, which, as part of an overall plan, has called for increased fuel economy standards for vehicles. The ESLC is a bipartisan group of U.S. business and retired military leaders who promote a multifaceted approach to energy production. Several of the business executives head transportation firms that feel the immediate impact of higher fuel costs. The United States imports 8.6 million barrels of oil and gas per day, or 41 percent of total demand for liquid energy. Through the use of ethanol and other renewable fuels and improved efficiencies, those imports can be reduced to 5.2 million barrels a day by 2025. A barrel of oil is 42 gallons. Robertson said a comprehensive energy program coupled with a response to climate change needs to be addressed by the presidential candidates offering themselves for 2008. He said candidates are speaking to individual pieces of the solution but need to focus more on a total plan, which includes the use of coal and nuclear power. Biodiesel is another source, Robertson said. Chevron is building a plant in Galveston, Texas, which will produce 110 million gallons of biodiesel a year from soybeans. “That is equivalent to nine days of transportation fuel produced from our refinery in Mississippi,” he said. Between now and 2030, the world will require energy investment of $20 trillion; $14 trillion for infrastructure, according to the International Energy Agency. Worldwide, Chevron will spend $19.6 billion this year in capital investment which is an 18 percent increase over last year, Robertson said. While acknowledging that oil companies are making billions of dollars, Chevron has invested $52.6 billion between 2002 and 2006, he said. Earnings during the same period were $52.8 billion. Robertson said the price of oil is up for a variety of reasons: uncertainty in the Middle East and elsewhere, demand growth, refinery turnarounds, and season fuel switches. Chevron reported net income of $3.77 billion in the fourth quarter of 2006 and 17.14 billion for the full year an increase of 22 percent over 2005. Questioned about the high risk of capital investment in Russia and other countries, he said, “Chevron is in the business of investing in difficult places — Angola, Venezuela and California. “The last place where we nationalized was in the United States,” he said. Robertson was referring to oil/gas leases the company paid for in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Florida that it was not allowed to develop because of environmental bans on off-shore drilling. He said an oil field developed in Kazakhstan is piped through Russia to a port on the Black Sea. “This was a very successful project,” he said. “However, a plan to expand is waiting Russian approval.” Russia, in December, through its state-owned oil and gas company, forced the sale of the $20 billion Sakhalin-2 project, which had been built by Shell Oil. Oil is a tempting target right now, Robertson said, as it expects to face repeated calls in Congress to re-impose taxes that were cut during the past six years. “The barriers to expanded production are taxes and access,” he said. “The government should open more areas for exploration, seismic exploration off the coasts of the United States.” This can be accomplished at the same time high environmental standards are observed, he said. Robertson pointed to Norway, which has high environmental standards and oil production off-shore. Credit: Billings Gazette, Mont.

One Response to “Energy security requires acknowledgement of interdependence”

• sherry 1February2009

  There could be no better investment in America than to invest in America becoming energy independent. The high cost of fuel this past year did serious damage to our economy and society. After a brief reprieve gas prices are inching back up again. Our nation should not allow other nations to have such power over us and our economy . We have so much available to us in the way of technology and free sources of energy. WE seriously need to get on with becoming an energy independent nation. We are spending billions upon billions in bail out dollars. Why not spend some of those billions in getting alternative energy projects set up. We could create clean cheap energy, millions of badly needed new green jobs and lessen our dependence on foreign oil all in one fell swoop. I just read an eye opening book by Jeff Wilson called The Manhattan Project of 2009. It would cost the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon to drive and charge an electric car.If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV’s instead had plug-in electric drive trains, the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota. Why don’t we use some of the billions in bail out money to bail us out of our dependence on foreign oil? This past year the high cost of fuel so seriously damaged our economy and society that the ripple effects will be felt for years to come. http://www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com

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