BP Amoco's Browne maps industry route to environmental change

There are still doubts about the science of climate change, but the energy industry should use technology to begin improving the environment now.

This is the view John Browne, chief executive of BP Amoco plc, presented at the Natural Environment Research Council annual lecture in London on June 21.

Browne said that, while air quality has improved over the years through the replacement of coal for power generation and improvements in the quality of hydrocarbon products, further improvements are desirable.

Fuel choices

BP Amoco now sells only fuels that are lead-free and low-sulfur in the U.K. and will convert retail stations in Paris and Istanbul during the next 2 weeks as part of an 18-month drive to upgrade outlets in 40 major cities worldwide where air pollution is a problem.

"This is a small step in itself," said Browne, "but it's an important one. It will show consumers and governments what is possible. And I believe it will open up the next step, which is a process of cooperation between the oil industry and car makers to develop a combination of engines and fuels that will be both more efficient and environmentally friendly."

This in turn would be a key step along the route to the even greater aspiration of zero-emissions vehicles, said Browne, a goal that may require radical changes in the fuel mix.

Developments of gas-to-liquids processes could lead to a period in which most fuels and hydrocarbon products are synthesized entirely from gas rather than derived from the products of oil refineries.

"That would mean," said Browne, "that there would be less heavy residues-perhaps none at all-only light and clean products and nothing else. The resources are available, the new science and technology is emerging, and the markets are there. The role of business is to link up the three."