Forbes Piece: Granholm Tells CERAWeek Oil And Gas Is Needed ‘For Years To Come’

[Note: This story can be read in full at Forbes.com]

Jennifer Granholm, U.S. energy secretary, speaks during the 2022 CERAWeek by S&P Global conference in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. CERAWeek returned in-person to Houston celebrating its 40th anniversary with the theme "Pace of C

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In a remarkable shift in tone from her appearance at the annual CERAWeek conference in Houston just one year ago, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told a packed house at this year’s gathering Wednesday that “we know that oil and gas is going to remain a part of our energy mix for years to come.”

She then added, “Even the boldest projections for clean energy deployment suggest that in the middle of the century we are going to be using abated fossil fuels.” Well, yes. That truth becomes increasingly obvious with every passing day - no credible projection exists that even bothers to argue the point anymore.

The welcome news that the current administration’s understanding of energy reality vs. the popular energy transition narrative may be evolving comes just a month after President Joe Biden himself had expressed his belief that the industry’s shelf life had only “another decade” to run during his State of the Union address. The President’s remark then was met with guffaws from the Republican side of the House Chamber, but no one present in Houston was laughing at Granholm’s admission the industry would be needed for far longer than another 10 years or so.

We can only hope Sec. Granholm wasn’t going rogue from official administration talking points in her speech, in which she also praised America’s oil and gas producers for stepping up to the plate in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February. “The US has become, in this year, an indispensable energy partner to our allies and a global energy powerhouse,” she told the audience made up of executives and officials not just from oil and gas, but all sectors of the energy space, to loud applause.