Energy Sec Warns Oil of Kodak Risk

Energy Sec Warns Oil of Kodak Risk
Jennifer Granholm, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, has urged oil companies to diversify and not become the Kodak or Blockbuster of energy in a new video interview published by Politico.

Jennifer Granholm, the U.S. Secretary of Energy, has urged oil companies to diversify and not become the Kodak or Blockbuster of energy in a new video interview published by Politico.

“The bottom line is, you have got to move and you can’t hang on and be … the Kodak or … the Blockbuster video of the energy world,” Granholm told Politico in the interview, which was published on Monday.

“Before any oil companies start to go bankrupt, you’ve got to diversify. We went to electric vehicles, they need to move to clean energy solutions,” Granholm added in the interview.

Some oil companies have decided that they are going to diversify and become diversified energy companies, Granholm told Politico in the video interview, adding that “the proof will be in the pudding”.

“You don’t want to just assume that somebody’s greenwashing an effort because they see where the globe is headed, but presumably they’re smart business people and they do see … as we say in Michigan, you skate to where the puck is going, and they see that the puck is moving toward clean energy,” Granholm told Politico.

“All of the … commitments that were made last week even here in the United States at the global energy summit tells them … it’s a bull horn telling them ‘y’all, we’re gonna move to clean electricity’,” Granholm added.

The energy secretary also outlined that biofuels may be part of the puzzle, especially for harder to decarbonize sectors like airline travel.

Granholm was sworn in as the 16th Secretary of Energy by Vice President Kamala Harris on February 25, following a bipartisan confirmation vote of 64-35 in the United States Senate. Granholm is the second woman to lead the U.S. Department of Energy and the first woman elected Governor of Michigan, serving two terms from 2003 to 2011.

To see the full Politico interview, click here. To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com



WHAT DO YOU THINK?


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John Hoopingarner  |  April 30, 2021
The Energy Sec views the oil and gas industry and growth of EV’s through the small lens of the US only. World demand for hydrocarbons will slow down in proportion to slow EV worldwide growth.
Chris Krieps  |  April 30, 2021
The good thing is, politicians only have 4 years so it takes decades to shift an entire globe away from a fossil based products such as plastic, rubber, chemicals, etc. Appreciate the keen advice though.