New York, Nov. 30, 2006 -- The world's future supplies of energy will depend in large part on geopolitical and regulatory factors that foster stability and predictability. Steadily increasing global demand for all forms of energy requires companies to explore every possible avenue for increasing supplies, according to a consensus among energy-industry executives, market analysts and government officials attending a Platts energy-security forum here today.

"There was not, and there is not, one single solution" to the imbalance between the world's voracious appetite for energy and the limited capacity to guarantee supplies, said John M. Roberts, a London-based energy security specialist with Platts, the world's leading energy information provider. The Platts Executive Forum was held on Wall Street in conjunction with the eighth annual Platts Global Energy Awards gala.

Summarizing the views of industry leaders at a luncheon discussion on energy security, Roberts said the energy industry must pursue every approach toward the development of multiple energy sources while bolstering energy efficiency. The discussions ranged from the development of nuclear power -- with caveats that this requires a particularly stable financial environment and would require time to secure -- to utilization of new supplies of unconventional as well as conventional oil, clean coal technology, and large-scale production of biomass. Renewables were considered a core element, but with great stress that they did not constitute "a tooth fairy solution" -- one that would magically resolve both supply and environmental problems.

The energy-company leaders were far less concerned with the specifics of future energy prices or volumes than with the need for predictability and stability in terms of both producer/consumer relations and of regulation.

They warned that global hydrocarbon resources were unlikely to be fully exploited over the coming years. In contrast to Saudi Arabia -- seen as delivering a much-needed predictable and steady increase in oil supply -- other major producers were thought likely to face problems in expanding production caused by lack of domestic investment and/or political objections to foreign investment.

They underscored that regulatory and political stability is a vital factor in encouraging industry to invest in new capacity. Vast sums must be invested in technologies that may require years to prove their economic effectiveness, said Paul Hamilton, president of Shell Global Solutions, and changes in regulation can change the risk-and-reward equation for large-scale investments.

Regulatory uncertainty is a factor that discourages industry from making expensive long-term investments, said Claire Spottiswoode, deputy chairman of British Energy. "Governments must get regulation right," said Spottiswoode. "Governments have to take the decisions" about creating a stable regulatory environment that set forth predictable policies.

The forum was held as hundreds of energy-industry executives from around the world gathered on Wall Street for the eighth annual Platts Global Energy Awards event. At the event, a panel of independent experts and scholars is poised to select the 'CEO Of The Year' and the 'Energy Company Of The Year,' along with winners of awards in 14 additional categories. The combination of the afternoon's CEO-level policy forum, the awards ceremony and the evening's gala dinner is hosted by Platts, supported by co-sponsors Capgemini and Bracewell & Giuliani.

"Energy industry executives are responsible for fueling the world's continued economic growth, managing supply lines that stretch around the globe and dealing with markets that fluctuate with dramatic minute-to-minute volatility," said Platts President Victoria Chu Pao. "Platts is pleased to host and facilitate wide-ranging discussions about the pivotal questions facing industry, the markets and policymakers."

Beyond increasing energy supplies and restraining demand, energy-industry leaders also said that the United States must invest in education -- especially in science and mathematics -- to ensure that there will be a new generation of scientists, engineers and energy-industry workers. CEOs of electricity and oil companies pointed to the declining numbers of engineering graduates from U.S. colleges and universities, warning that industry will face shortages of highly trained personnel. University-based scholars, meanwhile, lamented that fewer and fewer American students seem motivated to pursue science departments' rigorous curricula. Academic leader Charles Bayless of West Virginia University, himself a former electric utility CEO, noted that last year the United States granted fewer university degrees in engineering than did South Korea -- a nation with one-sixth of the United States' population.

The environmental impact of energy use -- and the likelihood of additional regulation to combat global warming -- is another factor about which the energy industry must be concerned. "Carbon regulation is coming," said Cathy Roche of Duke Energy Corporation, and far-sighted industry leaders should help the government shape well-crafted regulations. Carl English, president of American Electric Power Utilities, agreed that stronger limits on carbon emissions -- either through voluntary limits or regulatory caps -- are inevitable, but he voiced concerns about their potential cost to the economy.

The Platts Global Energy Awards, inaugurated in 1999, annually recognize outstanding achievement and vision in the global energy industry. Judging for the 2006 Global Energy Awards is being conducted by a panel of independent international energy experts -- including national regulatory officials, past leaders of major energy companies, government officials, and leading academics and lawmakers.

Next year's Platts Global Energy Awards and related events will be held on November 29, 2007. For additional information or to reserve your table, visit GlobalEnergyAwards.com.

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Contact: Kathleen Tanzy Platts +1 212-904-2860 kathleen_tanzy@platts.com