Despite the vast majority of all scenarios indicating that oil and gas will be required for decades to come, there will be changes in what, how and when to explore and exploit, considering the already discovered resources and new types required. This means the role of the geoscientist will gradually change.
The projected global increase in energy demand, and the diversification of supply sources means a deep, solid understanding of geoscience core skills are still required, be it for oil & gas exploration, CCS, rare earth metal mining or geothermal energy extraction. Due to the growth in digitalisation and fusion of energy supplies, there will be a wider spectrum of roles for geoscientists, especially those who have multi-domain knowledge and maintain a learning mind-set.
More discussion is required outside our ecosystem, especially with governments and the public at large on how traditional integrated oil & gas companies are transforming into integrated energy companies, diversifying the service they provide to society and how they can be part of the solution. The discussion should not underplay the contributions made in the improvement of people’s lives due to greater access to energy and be a source of investment capital required for renewable energy, whilst also acknowledging the environmental challenges of the current energy supply mix.
In particular, geoscientists need reach out and encourage the next generation of geoscience students. This new generation deeply cares about climate change and is keen to get involved. To attract talent, universities and companies need to show how their studies & work link to their core values, and how they too can become part of the solution.
Archive Website
ETF 2019 Summary Report
Videos from ETF 2019