Covid-19 has had devastating effects in the U.S.: Seven million infected, over 225,000 dead, and the most severe recession and unemployment since the Great Depression. However, we must appreciate the critical roles played by O&G in this pandemic.
Changed priorities. Until Covid-19 hit, many proposed eliminating fossil fuels to save us from “climate change.” Then reality struck with a vengeance. It turns out that we desperately need fossil fuels after all. Very quickly, everyone demanded O&G products and services, with little concern about their carbon footprints. When weighed against the carnage being caused by Covid-19, concerns about temperature readings in 2100 seem trivial.
We face a serious threat from Covid-19, and fossil fuels are preventing disaster. O&G are required to produce medicines, medical equipment, personal protection equipment (PPE), and other products to combat the pandemic; power ambulances and emergency vehicles; fuel trucks and airplanes that transport critical supplies; and provide reliable power for medical facilities 24x7.
Maintaining reliability. Suppose you have the virus and are in the hospital on a ventilator. The only thing keeping you alive is the reliable electricity powering the ventilator. Would you want this power to be dispatchable and reliable, generated by fossil fuels, or prefer to have it produced by unreliable intermittent sources (solar and wind)? The hospital’s emergency backup power is being provided by a diesel-powered generator. And production of the essential supplies saving your life requires petrochemicals. This includes disposable gowns and gloves, face shields, nasopharyngeal swabs, masks, endotracheal tubes, medical-grade glass, mechanical ventilators, exhalation valves, inhalation valves, and countless medicines.
During the pandemic, ambulances and emergency vehicles are in constant demand and use. Vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel are available 24x7. Electric vehicles require lengthy down times to recharge their batteries, and do not perform well in inclement weather. First responders and front-line medical personnel protect themselves using such PPE as surgical masks, goggles, coveralls, gowns, etc., all made from oil-based polypropylene. Further, when hospitals are desperate for urgent deliveries of PPE and medicines, would it be possible to deliver them without airfreight powered by oil-based aviation fuels?
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are effective in killing the coronavirus. Most liquid or gel hand sanitizers are made from isopropyl alcohol. The basic ingredient used to produce isopropyl alcohol is propene, derived from O&G. The best surgical masks and other protective gear are made of polypropylene. With Covid-19 raging, there has been little interest in using less-effective paper masks. Paper masks supposedly have less climate impact, but medical personnel believe their lives are more important than the theoretical potential to affect climate change.
What hope would there be of developing a vaccine and other medicines to fight the virus without O&G? While little appreciated, petrochemicals are the foundation for 80%-90% of pharmaceuticals. As with surgical masks, when facing the stark reality of protecting a loved one through carbon-based drugs or worrying about climate change, few choose the latter.
Plastic bags. In another irony, consider the sudden reappearance of single-use plastic bags at supermarkets, restaurants, etc. Prior to Covid-19, politically correct bureaucrats in some jurisdictions banned use of disposable plastic bags for groceries and other products and mandated use of reusable “environmentally friendly” bags. However, single-use plastic bags are far cleaner, more sanitary, and safer than reusable bags. People keep the latter in their homes and bring them to the store or restaurant, carrying all the germs and viruses they have collected during many uses. So, not only are stores returning to plastic bags produced from petrochemicals, they are banning reusable ones.
Perhaps the most important aspect of fossil fuel usage is that we have the reliable energy supply required to work remotely and treat those infected. Without that dispatchable power supply—most of which is powered by fossil fuels—fighting the virus would be impossible.
UN angle. Another unintended Covid-19 benefit may be to question the purported expertise of the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which, like the World Health Organization (WHO), is a specialized UN agency. The erosion in trust in WHO and the UN resulting from their conduct during the pandemic could also erode trust in the IPCC.
WHO is headed by Tedros Ghebreyesus, whose first step as director was to propose that despot Robert Mugabe become a WHO “goodwill ambassador,” and who recently stated “The Covid-19 pandemic has given new impetus to the need to accelerate efforts to respond to climate change.” On Jan. 14, 2020, WHO repeated China’s falsehood that Covid-19 had no human-to-human transmission. In February, when hospitals were filling, and China had imposed domestic travel restrictions, WHO refused to impose international travel restrictions on China. As late as March 9, WHO denied that coronavirus had become a pandemic and supported China’s decision to reopen live animal markets, which spread contagion from animals to humans. Due to WHO’s actions, the world lost vital weeks in fighting the pandemic, costing numerous lives and widespread economic ruin.
Hopefully, Covid-19 will facilitate appreciation of O&G and how vital they are to medicine and healthcare, and to society overall. Conceivably, this crisis will inject some realism into energy and environmental debates.
