New Fuels & Technology
Oil Industry Investing Billions in New Fuels & Technologies
U.S.-based oil and natural gas companies invested $58.4 billion from 2000 through 2008 in technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by T2 and Associates and the Center for Energy Economics at the University of Texas. This was more than was invested by either the federal government or by all other U.S.-based private industries combined.
The data for the study, titled Key Investments in Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Technologies by Energy Firms, Other Industry and the Federal Government, came from over 420 company annual reports, federal budget documents, and other public sources.
Oil and gas company investments fell into three categories. Some $30.6 billion went into advanced end-use technologies, such as combined heat and power (cogeneration), carbon capture and storage, and advanced vehicles. Fuel substitution – where a lower greenhouse gas emission fuel such as natural gas was substituted for a higher one – accounted for $21.1 billion. And more than $6.7 billion supported development of non-hydrocarbon energy sources, such as wind, biofuels and solar power.
Investment by oil and gas companies in non-hydrocarbon technologies amounted to 22 percent of the total for all U.S.-based private industry and the federal government. The top non-hydrocarbon investments by oil and gas companies were in wind and biofuels.
Other U.S.-based industries invested an estimated $55.3 billion in greenhouse gas mitigation. The federal government invested an estimated $19.2 billion. Altogether, the government and all U.S.-based industries, including oil and gas companies, invested about $132.9 billion.
The study, commissioned by API, updates an earlier similar study that surveyed investments made over the period 2000-2006.
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here for a copy of the complete study.
To learn more about the petroleum industry's role in developing new fuels and technologies, please visit:
American Petroleum Institute
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