Global energy demand to double by 2050

MANILA, Philippines - Global energy demand is expected to more than double by 2050 with Asia including the Philippines seen contributing significantly to the rise in demand along with expected economic boom in the region, energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said.

In a briefing for journalists from around the world at its Pearl Gas-to-Liquid Plant in Ras Laffan, Qatar, Shell officials said demand for energy is expected to increase to 400 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) by 2050 from less than 300 million boe in 2010.

Maarten Wetselaar, executive vice president Integrated Gas, Shell Upstream International said in a presentation via teleconference that natural gas demand is expected to grow at some two percent every year in the coming 20 years, with roughly 40 percent of the demand growth expected to come from Asia.

Supply is expected to grow along with the demand, Wetselaar said and this is expected to come from Russia, Middle East and North Africa, the Americas and former Soviet Republics collectively known as the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Against this backdrop, Wetselaar said Shell is ready to support growth.

 â€œWe are here to support the industry,” he said.

Shell’s integrated gas earnings from its operations across the globe rose to $9.4 billion in 2012 from $6.4 billion in 2011 and $3.2 billion in 2010.

Alongside this growth of its gas business, Shell said it would continue to step up efforts to reduce carbon emissions to avoid serious climate change.

In a separate briefing in Doha, Wael Sawan, managing director and chairman of Qatar Shell said that the company would continue improving energy efficiency as it develops the second phase of its Pearl GTL Plant.

“We have continued improvement in energy efficiency by doing things smarter as we develop the next phase of GTL. Wherever we can find these reductions (of carbon emissions) we will look for them,” Sawan said.

Shell’s Pearl GTL Plant, 100 percent funded by Shell with a development cost of $18 to $19 billion, has made Qatar the GTL capital of the world, according to Shell.

The plant, developed in partnership with Qatar Petroleum, has a capacity to produce 140,000 barrels of GTL produces per day and 120,000 barrels of natural gas liquids and ethane.

Located 80 kilometers north of Doha, the Pearl GTL Plant is a massive and complex city of steel standing on an area as big as 35 football fields here at the Ras Laffan Industrial City.

It is a fully integrated upstream to downstream, world-scale project that captures the full value chain from offshore development through onshore gas processing to refining of finished products in one project.

Developed in two phased, the project’s major construction works were completed at the end of 2010. The first phase started in the early 2011 and exported the first commercial shipment of gasoil in June 2011.

Sawan said Shell would be looking at Asia including the Philippines to market is GTL products.

GTL products include GTL Gasoil, a diesel-type fuel that will help diversify the supply of diesel fuels; GTL Base Oils, used in lubricants that keep vehicle engines operating smoothly as well as GTL Kerosene.

Other products are GTL Normal Paraffin, used in the production of detergents such as washing powder and soap and GTL Naphtha, an alternative feedstock to conventional naphtha for chemical plants.