The Future

Providing the world with the energy and products it needs has always been a challenge – a challenge the oil and natural gas industry has met, and will continue to meet in the future. Using consumer desires as our guide and technology innovation as our tools, we are focused on the future, one in which our children and grandchildren enjoy a quality of life better than our own.

There are many challenges to a better future – a growing worldwide population, a desire by those in developing countries to have a higher quality of life, preserving wildlife and important ecosystems, improving air and water quality and addressing climate risks to name a few. We also know our consumers want cleaner energy sources, a safer and healthier environment for themselves and their children, and a more sustainable future. We are working on these challenges and recognize that affordable energy is vital to a prosperous future:

• The oil and natural gas industry is hard at work meeting today’s energy needs and developing next-generation forms of energy. Between 2000 and 2010, the industry invested more than $71 billion in new low and zero emissions technologies. This represents 38 percent of the $188 billion spent by all U.S. industries and the federal government combined. 
• Developing more natural gas resources and infrastructure. Natural gas, consisting of 4 hydrogen atoms surrounding one carbon atom is the cleanest, lowest carbon content fuel that occurs naturally on earth. We are also working on processes to convert natural gas to pure hydrogen fuel, which is more efficient than getting hydrogen fuel from water.
• Using more low carbon fuels such as natural gas and alternative energy sources such as wind and solar energy at oil and natural gas facilities. 
•  Developing and deploying CO2 capture and storage technologies. In some cases the C02 is injected into aging oil fields, increasing the amount of oil that would otherwise have been recovered.
• Supporting academic and in-house research into areas such as improving the efficiency of solar devices, improved battery technology, more efficient engines, increasing biofuel production from algae and bacteria, and fuel-cell technology, to name a few.
• The oil and natural gas industry were among the first business to pioneer sustainability reporting. Companies generally post their individual sustainability reports on their company websites for the public to view.
• To help oil and natural gas companies report their progress in achieving their sustainability goals, API, the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) and the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) have developed the “Oil and Gas Industry Guidance on Voluntary Sustainability Reporting.” This document helps companies report their sustainability performance in a clear and consistent manner.