Mr. Utt will describe his experiences leading KBR and the various issues he has encountered as an International Engineering and Construction Contractor. KBR is a global engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, hydrocarbon, government services, minerals, civil infrastructure, power, and industrial markets.
 

While less than two years ago oil prices climbed to almost $150 per barrel and then completely unexpectedly suddenly dropped to around $40, prompted by the “credit crisis,” compounded by economic recession and then moved on back to almost $90, natural gas whose international price zoomed to as high as $25 per Mscf (in parity with oil in Japan) has languished since. There are many reasons for this situation and they include considerable demand destruction in Russia, large new capacity of LNG in Qatar and, of course, the inertia of the success in shale formation activities in the United States.

These price gyrations affect all aspects of the natural gas world including the import of LNG, the desirability of arctic pipelines, conventional and, especially unconventional production.

Internationally, energy militant nations such as Iran and, over the last few years, Russia hold a considerable sway over the energy trade pushing, among other issues, for a gas cartel. Russia’s energy ascendancy over the past decade has been an important and devastating influence in Europe and threatens to spread further.

One obvious bright spot for the future is that energy consumption in the generation of wealth and the forms of primary energy sources have not been constant throughout the last two centuries. Of considerable significance is the change of fuels from wood to coal to oil and now to natural gas and, eventually, hydrogen will play a role. Wide use of electricity in transportation is the only obvious long-term, decades away, future.

Distorting the economically sane path to the future is the confusion deriving from the current lack of overlap between primary energy sources such as oil and natural gas and improbable ideas for alternative energy sources such as the practically energy-negative bio-fuels, headed by ethanol or, even more impractical alternatives such as solar electricity. Natural gas, at prices significantly below BTU parity with oil for a long time to come, will certainly play a pivotal role in world energy supply and will move towards becoming the premier fuel of the world economy.

"Materials Market Update and the expanding role of Procurement in the global execution of capital projects."
Mr. Jim Scotti, Senior Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer, Fluor Corporation

As companies emerge from the downturn, innovative capital project supply chain models will be vital to both contractors and owners. This presentation will include a look at the current materials market and the unique elements associated with the capital project supply chain process. It will also include a discussion around the state of the Procurement profession and what Fluor is doing to demonstrate its commitment to improving the supply chain education opportunities for the industry’s future Procurement leaders.