NEWS

“When it comes to energy, we are seeing a tectonic shift all around the world,” Kaeser said. “This tectonic shift has two sides—one is on the good side and the other one is on the bad side.” He warned that the “global economy is really dependent on the energy agenda of this world, and that this global economy can change at any time if you don’t get that energy agenda right in certain economies of the world.”

Kaeser noted that countries around the world are currently grappling with issues surrounding energy availability, affordability and sustainability. He went on to say that in this regard, in recent years, it’s clear that “no country has found greater opportunity” than the U.S. “The U.S. will most likely become the world’s largest oil and gas producer this year. That’s affordability, availability, and sustainability all in one. And it’s a milestone with potentially far-reaching geopolitical implications for large regions.”

“Today in Europe, it is all about going west. The United States is once again, and has always been in my view, the place to be,” he said, noting that more global companies are moving to the U.S.

“I don’t have to tell any of you in this room how significantly natural gas, and in particular, the shale gas opportunity in the United States, is reshaping the global economy,” he commented.

Kaeser reminded delegates that it was only a few years since the expense of natural gas was driving chemical companies away from the U.S., but now the situation could not be more different. He said they would now be “flat out crazy” not to be in the U.S.

He added, “I think it’s fair to say that the development of horizontal drilling may have been the biggest shift of balance in the global economy since China joined the WTO.”

However, Kaeser also cautioned that the U.S. still has “a lot of questions to answer.”  He cited current debates on the export of LNG and the transport of energy around the nation.