Dan Brouillette, former U.S. secretary of energy, has taken the helm as president of Sempra Infrastructure, Sempra Energy's new Houston-based division.
Dan Brouillette, president of Sempra Infrastructure.
In his role, Brouillette, a Louisiana native, will work to consolidate Sempra LNG, the majority owner of the Cameron LNG facility located in Southwest Louisiana, with the international and other nonutility assets of Sempra Energy, and formulate a strategy to build out this newly created company. Through the consolidation, Brouillette sees Sempra continuing its legacy of innovation and growth.
"We can use natural gas as a perfect complement to many renewable technologies that we see coming not only here in America, but all around the world," Brouillette explained. "Sempra is at the tip of the spear on developing those technologies, and it's just an exciting place to be."
Sempra will focus on expanding current projects and work with its joint venture partners at Cameron LNG to add a fourth train for the site. The company is also working to continue bringing new technologies to the facility so the gas that is being sold in the future will meet the demands of the market. Making production at Cameron LNG greener is another goal Sempra is working on. Brouillette said global demand for LNG isn't declining so keeping up the production with innovation is vital.
"We want to ensure the production and export of gas from the Cameron LNG facility will meet those emissions and net-zero tests in the future," he added.
Brouillette is also excited about the opportunities to come in the energy industry.
"Every single thing in the world depends on the provision of energy. There's nothing you can do - you can't start a business, you can't go to work - without energy," he said. "It's so fundamentally important to everything we do, and I'm excited to be part of that. I think I'm even more excited to be with a company like Sempra because of the innovation it brings to the marketplace."
Joining Sempra was something Brouillette said he just couldn't pass up. With his southern Louisiana roots, he knows the importance of oil and gas to the local economy in addition to its global impact, and Sempra's continued innovation and growth attracted him.
A bright energy future
Brouillette said he is confident that the future of energy production in the U.S. and Louisiana in particular can be bright -- as long as innovation is not stifled. Regulating innovation similar to how Europe regulates could be detrimental to U.S. energy production.
"It's astounding what we need to produce to maintain the economic growth that we have become accustomed to," he said.
Brouillette reiterated that the ability to produce or import energy is vital to a nation's economic development. Current projections by the Energy Information Administration and the International Energy Agency show energy needs increasing over the next decades and the dependency on natural gas and fossil fuels continuing for up to 50 years. Currently, 80 percent of global energy is derived from oil and natural gas, which will continue to be important for many years.
"What that means for Louisiana is a very bright future and a very strong economic outlook over the course of these next few decades," he asserted.
As much of energy and the global economy turns to hydrogen to reduce carbon emissions, Brouillette emphasized that hydrogen will definitely be important to the future economic state. However, hydrogen can't do the job alone.
"Natural gas is so important not only to the development and production of hydrogen, but also to transporting hydrogen," he explained. Pipelines can be used to transport hydrogen throughout the U.S., and due to the prevalence of natural gas lines running through Texas and Louisiana, the possibility for economic growth and success is likely.
"With the infrastructure and the amount of gas production in Louisiana, this really positions the state to be a world leader in hydrogen production," Brouillette said. "I really do see that as the future for the state."
To smoothly and quickly transition to a hydrogen energy market, the economics for that innovation will need to be in place, but Brouillette is confident it will happen. He said technology will continue to innovate as people look for less expensive technology and to meet climate goals. In this way, hydrogen will be instrumental in continuing the technological innovations in the industry.
"I think you'll see both innovation and climate goals coming together on hydrogen in a way that we haven't seen in recent memory at least, and this is going to push the technology forward," he added.
For Brouillette, one of his favorite things about the energy industry is its "entrepreneurial" nature and drive in taking risks with new technology. He said that since his time working in high school and just after graduation, things have changed drastically, but in many positive ways. He said the technology and safety innovations are remarkable and prove how far the industry has come just in his own lifetime. He explained that growth in U.S. energy won't be stopping.
"There's not a sense in America that we're going to run out of energy any time soon and it's because of the economic risk this industry is willing to take on and because of its entrepreneurial nature that this is true," he explained. "I'm proud to be a part of that."
For more information, visit https://sempralng.com or email info@sempralng.com.
