What Industrial End-Users Need and How They Perceive Energy Availability, Prices, and Their Options

David H. Hawk

I will explore how end-users analyze their energy requirements and what they assess in determining the source to use to meet these needs. I will discuss how industrial consumers view the short and long term energy pricing scenarios as well as open access. The discussion will include coal, electricity, oil, and cogeneration options. Other options to be discussed include reserves acquisition, prospect generation, exploration and development, and long term and spot purchase contracts.

Geologists must broaden their understanding of economics and the oil and gas business downstream of the wellhead. That knowledge, coupled with their inherent creativity and imagination, will serve to make them more valuable employees. As government, environmental, and workday roadblocks crop out, broadly based geologists will be able to assess quickly and accurately the situation, and propose alternate courses. Perhaps, in this manner, geologists can establish new short and long term career paths.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91040©1987 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, Boise, Idaho, September 13-16, 1987.