BP: We May Invest in Alternative Energy Sources if Profitable

October 18, 2004

Developed countries are spending billions of dollars on research to make use of alternative energy resources such as wind, sun and hydrogen.

Although different predictions came out of the projects designed to find ways to address gradually reducing oil reserves, oil companies can be confident of their sovereignty for at least 100 more years. Peter Davies, the vice chairman and chief economist of British Petroleum (BP), said natural gas and coal will be serving humanity and with regard to alternative energy production, added, “We may invest in alternative resources if we find them to be profitable.”

Davies pointed out that they would continue their activities in the sector for 20 more years, “We will be producing much more gas than we are today because of an increase in the demand for natural gas and a liberalization of the market.” Davies determined that oil reserves were constantly increasing contrary to expectations and said finding low-cost energy for the future was a responsibility. He also highlighted the dependency of coming generations on basic energy resources and said they did not have any concerns about that at the moment. Although the idea of alternative energy is big, Davies said: “Wind and solar energies are only in the minds of scientists at the moment. They are not in the market now, but they may be in 50 years.”


Tags: Electricity, Industry, Renewable Energy