Energy powers technology and enables progress throughout the world. It provides heat for homes and businesses; power for hospitals and clinics to run advanced, life-saving equipment; fuel for cooking and transportation; and light for schools and streets. In 2040, the energy sector will need enough supplies to sustain the lives of 9 billion people and a world economy more than double that of 2014. Expanded economic output and roughly 2 billion additional consumers by 2040 will mean that global energy demand will likely grow by about 25 percent over 2014. To put this growth in perspective, this increase is equivalent to the total energy used in North America and Latin America today.

Given the importance of energy, it is in the interest of every government to increase access to reliable and affordable supplies for its citizens. That is why consumers should be concerned with policies that could have an adverse impact on energy production. Such restrictions could also impact the rate of economic development and the ability of nations to develop.

Technology is the key to expanding supplies of energy to meet global needs.

Such innovation requires significant investments and sustained research and development, the result of which will be affordable and abundant energy production with reduced environmental impact.

It is also important to recognize that energy is a long-term, capital-intensive sector of the economy.

Every year, we prepare a long-range analysis of global energy trends. We call it the Outlook for Energy and it looks at how people use energy, how much they will use in the decades ahead, and what our industry must do to meet the needs of billions of people.

Our current Outlook for Energy covers the period 2014 to the year 2040. It provides a strategic framework to aid evaluation of potential business opportunities. Like all credible forecasts, we see fossil fuels continuing to shoulder the bulk of societal needs in the future. We also see a future marked by a shift to lower-carbon fuels. With this shift will come a plateau in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions, and we project that new technologies will open up new energy options, such as unconventional oil and natural gas in North America.

Source:ExxonMobile