
Mike Wirth, the chairman and CEO of oil major Chevron, has recently appeared on CNBC to talk about his company’s energy strategy.
Wirth was speaking with Brian Sullivan on CNBC’s Power Lunch. He highlighted how energy production for Chevron was dependent on many wider issues related to current and future energy needs, adding:
“We have to meet the demands of the economy today, even as we invest in technologies for tomorrow.”
He said that factors like technologic advancement and population growth were driving a growth in the demand for energy, and Chevron was striving to meet this demand. Chevron, which also makes lubricant products under the Texaco brand, says it will raise its oil-equivalent production in the US Permian Basin to a million barrels per day this year.
It also recently brought online its Future Growth Project in Tengiz, Kazakhstan, and has extensive operations in the US Gulf of Mexico, where it says it produces some of the least carbon-intensive oil in the world.
While traditional fossil fuels are important for meeting short-term energy needs, Chevron is also investing in established and novel technologies for renewable generation. For example, in Delta, Utah, the Advanced Clean Energy Storage (ACES) project will use excess renewable energy to produce hydrogen for storage in two massive salt caverns, so it can be later used for energy generation in periods of low wind and limited sunlight. Hydrogen is also regarded as the most viable alternative for industries that are hard to electrify.