Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 04, 2002 - - Your Excellencies, esteemed delegates and friends, it is a privilege to speak before you at today's assembly of the 17th World Petroleum Congress. As colleagues in the oil and gas industry, we have a considerable challenge before us - to set the compass of strategic direction on global energy issues and examine our role as responsible world citizens.

Our Congress theme this year, "Excellence and Responsibility in Serving Society," could not be more timely in light of the international attention on corporate ethics and accountability. Nor could it be more fitting that spectacular Rio de Janeiro, host of such renowned environmental events as the Earth Summit, serve as the venue for this important session.

Let me set the stage for my remarks by acknowledging our role as world energy providers. No energy industry today is more engaged than petroleum in serving the global transportation, power generation, agricultural and consumer products sectors. We are all aware that oil and natural gas are essential drivers of economic growth. And we all know that this carries enormous social and environmental responsibilities.

Today, the world is beset with problems on a population scale never before seen. Of the 6.2 billion human inhabitants of this Earth, more than 70 percent live in poor or developing countries. Many of these people - some 1.2 billion according to World Bank estimates - - struggle to survive on the equivalent of about a dollar a day. Perhaps twice that number lives barely above even that meager level.

While the root causes of poverty and underdevelopment are persistent, their effects can be devastating. Hunger, disease, illiteracy and idleness are social ills all too familiar in the global human condition. Even those countries that have succeeded in some measure to advance or modernize their economic and social structures still face the challenge of sustaining that development.

Certainly there is hope amidst all this, and we should take encouragement that social responsibility is gaining priority from both public and private sectors. We in the petroleum industry are recognizing more and more that our roles extend beyond the delivery of energy resources. Our shareholders, customers, employees and communities expect us to take firm stands in helping solve social problems, just as we have in creating wealth and protecting the environment.

Never has the petroleum industry been in a better position to do so. We are stronger technologically, better consolidated for efficiency, and are clearly focused on our world energy role.

Moreover, hydrocarbons will long remain the resource of choice to fuel future economic progress worldwide. Thus we have vested interests in protecting not only air, water and land resources, but also our ability to keep serving society through our products and actio

This content is only available via PDF.
You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.