Saudi CEO sees more oil in world energy future

Abdallah Jum'ah, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, one of the United States' main oil suppliers, assured an audience of more than 300 at the Harvard University Science Center that his company will help achieve a sustainable energy future by increasing oil production.

Saudi Aramco is one of the largest exporters of oil to the United States and produces an average of 3.3 billion barrels of crude oil annually.

Although many environmentalists and politicians concerned with sustainable growth promote further energy conservation, Jum'ah predicted global energy use would rise about 70 percent from the current usage levels.

"I welcome additional contributions from alternative fuels," he said, "and believe that these contributions will be essential if we are to meet the growing needs of energy demand."

Jum'ah said while his company will not ignore the environmental impact of oil drilling and will remain open to contributions to the world energy market from renewable sources, "no trend is likely to reverse itself anytime soon."

Jum'ah's lecture, "The Road to Our Energy Future: A Candid Assessment," was the first in a series of lectures on "The Future of Energy" held by the Harvard University Center for the Environment. According to the Center's Managing Director James Clem, the lecture series was organized in an effort to promote diverse discussion on energy use.

"Energy is the biggest problem [younger] generations will confront and hopefully solve," he said.

Chris Scarpino, senior research technologist at Harvard-affiliated lab Eaton-Peabody Laboratory of Auditory Physiology, said the topic of future oil reserves did not receive enough attention at last night's forum.

Scarpino, a member of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, said Jum'ah's lecture came from an advertising standpoint, and the lecture lacked a knowledgeable representative from ASPO to counter Jum'ah's lecture with "good data."

Attendee James Williamson, who criticized Saudi Aramco's lack of environmental credentials, disagreed with Jum'ah's suggestion that more oil production could alleviate the massive imbalance in consumption between poor and rich countries, and said it might be more prudent to restrain growth in oil production.