Natural gas critical to Europe’s future energy supply

“Natural gas must be a fundamental part of any future energy solution,” said Richard Guerrant, ExxonMobil’s vice-president of Gas & Power Marketing for Europe, Russia and the Caspian, in his keynote speech at the industry-wide Flame 2010 conference in Amsterdam in March.

Richard highlighted the importance of natural gas in providing reliable energy with lower environmental impact. He said: “Not only can it help meet CO₂ emissions targets, but it can provide the proven flexibility and reliability to ensure security of supply for Europe.”

He added that natural gas has a number of benefits as a source for power generation. “A gas-fired power plant can reduce CO₂ emissions by close to 60 per cent compared to a traditional coal plant.”

Richard told delegates that natural gas has an important role to play in complementing renewable forms of power generation. “Although wind power doesn’t emit CO₂, the wind doesn’t always blow.  So when it’s calm, the electricity grid will require reserve power and nuclear doesn’t have the flexibility to be a suitable option.  The greater flexibility of gas-fired plants makes them a better choice to meet this growing requirement.”

Though conventional production of natural gas in Europe is declining, Richard predicted that Europe will continue to have plenty of supply options in future.

"With the increasing supply from LNG and unconventional sources, we now see a truly global gas business," he said. "There are a growing number of LNG cargoes moving to markets where they’re needed, rather than where they were originally destined. And there are unconventional opportunities across the continent that may have commercial possibilities in the next decade."

“As new gas supplies come on stream, we’ll continue to see global gas flows shift to meet market needs. We know these new sources will be challenging to bring on stream, but our industry has a proven track record of being able to do it.”

“Energy efficiency and carbon emission reduction plans are very important global priorities. These priorities can be achieved with natural gas a growing part of the solution, not only for today, but tomorrow.”