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The oil and natural gas industry has developed andapplied an impressive array of innovative technologies toimprove productivity and efficiency, while yieldingenvironmental benefits. According to the U.S. Departmentof Energy, the petroleum business has transformed itselfinto a high-technology industry.State-of-the-art technology allows the industry toproduce more oil and natural gas from more remoteplaces - some previously unreachable - with significantlyless adverse effect on the environment. Among thebenefits: increased supply to meet the world's growingenergy demand, reduced energy consumption at oil andnatural gas facilities and refineries, reduced noise fromoperations, decreased size of facilities, reducedemissions of pollutants, better protection of waterresources, and preservation of habitats and wildlife.With advanced exploration and productiontechnologies, the oil and gas industry can pinpointresources more accurately,extract them more efficientlyand with less surface disturbance, minimize associatedwastes, and, ultimately, restore sites to original or bettercondition.Exploration and production advances includeadvanced directional drilling, slimhole drilling, and 3-Dseismic technology. Other segments of the industry havebenefited from technological advances as well. Refineriesare becoming highly automated with integrated processand energy system controls; this results in improvedoperational and environmental performance and enablesrefineries to run harder and produce more products saferthan ever before. Also, new process equipment andcatalyst technology advances have been made veryrecently to meet new fuel regulations requiring very lowlevels of sulfur in gasoline and diesel.Technology advances such as these are making itpossible for the oil and natural gas industry to grow intandem with the nation's energy needs while maintaininga cleanerenvironment. The industry is committed toinvesting in advanced technologies that will continue toprovide affordable and reliable energy to support ourcurrent quality of life, and expand our economic horizons.For example, we are researching fuel cells that maypower the vehicles of tomorrow with greater efficiencyand less environmental impact. We are investigating waysto tap the huge natural gas resources locked in gashydrates. Gas hydrates are common in sediments inthe ocean's deep waters where cold temperatures andhigh pressures cause natural gas and water to freezetogether, forming solid gas hydrates. Gas hydrates couldbe an important future source of natural gas for our nation.Some of our companies are also investigatingrenewable energy resources such as solar, wind,biomass and geothermal energy. By conducting researchinto overcoming the many technological hurdles that limitthese energy resources, they hope to make them morereliable,affordable and convenient for future use. Althoughthe potential for these energy resources is great,scientists do not expect them to be a significant part ofthe nation's energy mix for many decades. For thisreason, the industry must continue to invest inconventional resources such as oil and natural gas. Wewill need to rely on these important energy resources formany decades to come.

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