Tackling energy demand in age of gas

Gastech attendees, welcome to the energy capital of the world – Houston! I am thrilled to see you in our home city for Gastech. Houston is a city well-known for innovation, leadership, and global collaboration. It is also the undisputed leader in energy and industrial company headquarters, including energy technology companies like Baker Hughes. In Houston and the state of Texas, we have a personal and a professional desire to solve energy challenges while committing to a net-zero future. Texas continues to require a more reliable and sustainable energy supply. The population of the Houston metropolitan area has grown over 15% for more than three consecutive decades and, coupled with the effects of climate change and industrialization, the region requires new levels of energy to meet demand never seen before. Texas’ growing recognition as a technology hub also requires a new generation of energy innovation to support explosive growth of data centers, AI, and electrification across the state.

These examples are not unique to Texas. The IEA’s most recent projections for electricity consumption note the global demand for data centers could double by 2026. In this scenario, annual electricity consumption could account for 4% of global energy demand; this would equal roughly the amount of electricity used by Japan. Natural gas is the answer to meeting this growing demand. We believe the rise of data centers and generative AI could increase our current expectation for natural gas demand to increase almost 20% between now and 2040 – apart from many other demands for energy growth. These projections are fueling the notion that we are, in fact, in an ‘Age of Gas’ in the U.S. and beyond.

To achieve success in the Age of Gas, we must remember a simple three-word phrase to guide our journey: sustainable energy development. Sustainable energy development focuses not only on the factors of the energy trilemma – balancing security, sustainability, and affordability – but also introduces the concept of efficiency. Efficiency is hugely important to achieve net-zero commitments and is also critical to unlocking the potential of natural gas in the energy mix. As we support the Age of Gas together, reducing emissions from core oil and gas operations is a first and critical step to meeting global and industry emissions targets. These solutions can be relatively low in capital investment and provide more immediate results:

• Technologies for efficient power and compression, across the energy value chain. This is core to what we do at Baker Hughes, from our oilfield technology to our high-efficiency turbomachinery. We innovate every day to run cleaner and more efficiently for operators worldwide.
• Technologies for more efficient and productive oil & gas fields as well as industrial environments. Our Mature Assets Solutions maximize oil & gas well efficiency by optimizing production, de-risking intervention, and lowering the cost of asset retirement for a shorter-cycle, lower-cost, lower-carbon barrel. This approach can include LeucipaTM, our automated field production software solution designed to help oil & gas operators proactively manage production and reduce carbon emissions. For industrial environments, we have seen significant customer adoption of CordantTM, an integrated suite of solutions supporting industrial asset performance management and process optimization.
• Emissions abatement solutions, including flaring reduction. Baker Hughes has over 100 proven technologies in this space, with solutions available from the reservoir to downstream. Some of these solutions, such as our flare.IQ technology, are already used by customers such as bp to better understand, measure, and reduce methane emissions from global operations through advanced flare controls and digital verification of emissions levels.
• Solutions in Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS) and hydrogen. Electric-driven compression and power generation technology, as well as hydrogen-ready gas turbines, are actively helping to reduce the carbon intensity of LNG facilities in Texas and beyond.

We need an “all of the above” strategy to succeed in the Age of Gas and drive sustainable energy development. Together with you at Gastech, I encourage all attendees to discover and collaborate on new innovations to support our common goals for the future of natural gas. I look forward to seeing many of you. Let’s take energy forward together and drive sustainable energy development like never before – for Houston, the U.S., and the world.