The former president of a big oil company was very critical of the oil industry during his keynote address at the 2016 National Ethanol Conference in New Orleans Tuesday.
John Hofmeister was president of Shell Oil Company for three years, but after he left the company in 2008 he founded Citizens for Affordable Energy and wrote a book called “Why We Hate the Oil Companies: Straight Talk from an energy insider.” Straight talk was definitely what Hofmeister shared with attendees at the NEC.
“Oil is a contrived market,” Hofmeister began, talking about the current state of low oil prices and how Iran and Russia are impacting the situation with Saudi Arabia. “This is a contrived situation that has been created because of geopolitical considerations…and which can’t last very much longer.”
“What does this have to do with ethanol?” he asked. “I think it has everything to do with the United States’ absolute requirement to become fully energy independent to not be the victim of a contrived oil market.”
Hofmeister questioned why the United States imports seven million barrels of oil a day instead of developing “the alternative fuels we have in this country that can dismiss any dependency on foreign oil forever.”
Listen to Hofmeister’s insights here: John Hofmeister NEC16 Keynote Address