Petroleum : a social choice, but at what price?

This article summarized an interview with the chief executive officer of Total, the fifth largest integrated oil company in the world. The interview addressed a range of issues, including oil price trends, industry costs and the company's investment strategy. Total has just invested $1.5 billion in Alberta's oil sands. BP's oil rig blowout and massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 2010 will likely generate interest in the world's second largest hydrocarbon reserves. The main challenge currently facing the CEO of Total is to remake the image of the industry at a time when politics and environmental concerns prevent oil companies from developing, or exploring for, hydrocarbon resources that are needed to meet growing energy demands. Issues of peak oil were also discussed. The CEO emphasized that new technologies continuously allow companies to explore deeper both underwater and underground, but these resources will cost more and be more expensive to operate, particularly if environmental impacts are to be minimized. Safety standards for exploration will likely be enhanced after the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, despite the fact that very strict rules already exist in areas such as the North Sea and elsewhere. However, offshore oil will not be suddenly replaced by the oil sands, which generate their own environmental problems and have been the subject of attacks from environmentalists and Aboriginal communities. Carbon dioxide emissions, water use and water pollution have been singled out as the primary environmental concerns facing development of Alberta's oil sands. 3 figs.