The challenges for the energy industry, specifically petroleum engineering, come from many different angles. There are challenges internally about the transition to renewable resources and energy development in third-world countries. Other challenges come externally from poor public stigma and opinion. As an industry, we are constantly fighting a battle on all fronts while continuing to supply the world with not only energy but basic products that have, in time, become necessities for the public that judges us. The internal challenges mainly come from economic and political issues about carbon capture utilization and storage and how to start moving towards renewable energy. This is not an issue of “Can we do it?” but “How can we do this smoothly and economically?”. Carbon capture is not a new magical technology; it is just expensive. This is a very profitable industry, and the heads of major companies are willing to do this expensive process to save public image and keep profits. This is a challenge that can be overcome using a bit of ingenuity. If companies can keep their integrity and are willing to push through, we can find a way to break even where carbon capture is concerned. There is also the challenge of the need for more energy in the future for developing countries. I recently attended a lecture lunch where Exxon projected that the need for energy will rapidly expand in developing countries from 2025 to 2050. This is a competitive global industry, and it is going to be a mad scramble to get these countries energy. This is going to cause geopolitical challenges because of the change in international relations related to energy. The challenge of public image is very direct and apparent. You see it on the news, social media, and even from family and friends. I have been told by classmates in my humanities classes that I’m not going to have a job because oil and gas will be dead in five years. I have had close friends from high school berate me and call me immoral because of the major I decided to pursue, totally ignoring the fact that we went to school in New Mexico, where oil and gas paid $1.4 billion to the public school system in 2021. My Papa supported my family on oil and gas in Farmington, New Mexico, and most of my family works for oil and gas, so how could that be immoral or evil? This simple fact is that it is not. Mistakes are all over the news to make our industry seem evil. In 2023, BP’s Olympic Pipeline leaked roughly 25,000 gallons of gasoline near Mount Vernon in Washington state, and before that, BP was notorious for the tragedy known as Deepwater Horizon. These were both preventable mistakes that have permanently damaged the view of the industry. People tend to ignore the fact that oil and gas also provide for communities. As stated before, $1.4 billion was given to the public school system in New Mexico from the oil and gas industries in 2021. I also looked more into Scout Energy as the provider of this scholarship, and they have partnered with six non-profits, including Children’s Health, the Wounded Warrior Project, and the Trevor Project. Almost all oil and gas companies give large sums of money to local communities and non-profit organizations. In conclusion, the challenges this industry faces are numerous and complex. There are no black-or-white solutions to these problems, but there are solutions. There are great minds here that are willing to solve any problem, and we should be given the chance.

My future goal is to build a career in the energy industry in order to help contribute to an economical solution to the carbon capture problem in the industry. By building my career in the energy industry, I can be a part of the new wave of professionals who dedicate their time to finding an economical solution to global warming by offering more cost-effective alternatives to our current solutions. Currently, the problem of carbon capture is not a "Can we do it?" problem, but an economic and political problem. Many effective ways are currently in practice like the Orca project in Iceland launched on September 8, 2021. This project is one of the biggest successful projects that is still active today. The field is also developing closer to home. As a Petroleum Engineering major in Louisiana, we have classes about CCUS, Carbon Capture Utilization, and Storage, as it is relevant to us and our future in this field and our communities. Currently, there are 43 proposed carbon capture projects in Louisiana. This is a future that I can be actively involved in. The only problem with these solutions are that they are expensive and there is very little incentive to actually enact these solutions. By involving myself in this industry, I hope to bring solutions to this problem. I would like to help the development of solutions that are more efficient and therefore most cost-effective. I would also like to create the conversation for future generations and peers alike that this is not something we should do for profitable gain, but for the communities. This would benefit my communities because as we all know, carbon capture is a hot-button issue right now in the face of global warming. It is our responsibility as a community to hold the government and industries accountable for this issue. By educating the communities about the realities of CCUS and the real solutions available, the people can make more informed decisions and can apply the right pressure in the right places to make sure there is change and effort put into saving our environment.