US transition to green energy will take 'decades' predicts Chevron exec: 'A role for oil and gas'
Consumers expect reliable and affordable energy, Parfitt said
Colin Parfitt discusses how Chevron views a transition to green energy
Parfitt said the energy industry should focus on reliable, affordable, and ever-cleaner energy.
Despite calls to transition to green energy, the United States will use fossil fuels for decades to come, predicted Colin Parfitt, the vice president of Midstream at Chevron.
Chevron is growing its oil and gas business, but that growth is coupled with investments in renewable energies, Parfitt told Fox News Digital at the Milken Institute Global Conference last week.
"We have a big oil and gas business, and we’re trying to grow our oil and gas business. … But critically, we’re trying to reduce the carbon intensity of that business," Parfitt said.
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Chevron exec Colin Parfitt predicted oil and gas will have a place in the American energy industry for decades to come. (Mario Tama/Getty Images / Getty Images)
But, in addition to growth of existing business, Parfitt said the company is investing in green technology.
"For us, we’re focused on a few areas: renewable fuels, hydrogen, carbon capture and offsets."
The Biden administration has prioritized investment in green energy since taking office in 2021. But, focusing on a transition to green energy is not enough, Parfitt said, emphasizing the importance of energy that is reliable and affordable.
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Oil pumpjacks line the horizon along the Kern River in Chevron's Kern River Oil Field, the fifth largest field in the United States, located just north and east of Bakersfield.
"One of the things we talk about often is affordable, reliable, ever cleaner energy. You have to do all of these three things, and you have to do them together," he said.
"Absolutely we want to try and reduce C02, help the climate, but if I think about the consumer and reliability, fundamentally the consumer wants to turn the light switch and the light go on, or drive up to a filling station and fill up with gasoline, or fill up with electric charge."
So historically, we have been really good at that as an energy industry, but as we go through this transition, we need to make sure we focus all three things together, that as we’re building ever cleaner energy, they’re fundamentally reliable for the consumer.
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Jan 31, 2020 San Jose / CA / USA - Chevron gas station in south San Francisco bay area (iStock / iStock)
The transition to renewable energy, Parfitt said, would not happen quickly, and would not completely replace the existing oil and gas industry.
"If you look at the current energy system, it’s so vast, and to transition is going to take years and decades."
"There’s still going to be a role for oil and gas for years and decades to come."
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"If you’re going to take an enormous energy system like we have in the world, and transition, it will take time, but you want to do all these three things together," he added.
