Mr. Jeroen van der Veer is Chief Executive of Royal Dutch Shell plc. He was born in Utrecht in the Netherlands and has degrees in mechanical engineering and economics. He joined Shell in 1971 and has worked in the Netherlands, Curaçao, United Kingdom and the United States. He was a Managing Director of Royal Dutch Petroleum from 1997 until the unification under Royal Dutch Shell in July 2005. He is a non-executive director of Unilever.

Shell is a member of the Joint Committee of companies that is advising host country Qatar on the development of the agenda of the 2nd International Energy Business Forum that will take place in conjunction with the 10th IEF Ministerial.

Mr. van der Veer attended the inauguration of the IEF Secretariat’s headquarters and took part in the meeting of IEF Minsters in Riyadh.

Meeting the world’s expanding energy needs presents great challenges for the companies who must deliver these supplies and the governments who must set the policy framework that makes this possible. Commercial competition drives progress. But meeting these profound challenges will depend on effective cooperation – between producing and consuming governments, and national and international energy companies.

The challenges have two main dimensions. One is to expand supplies from maturing fossil resources by perhaps 50% over the next 25 years. The other is to find ways of producing and using that energy – needed to fuel development and support higher living standards – without destroying our environment.

The world will continue to depend on fossil fuels for most of its energy and there are adequate resources to meet growing demand for some time. But these will become increasingly difficult to find, develop and deliver. We will have to recover more from existing fields, develop new ones in harsher conditions and more difficult geology, explore in new areas and ways, develop unconventional hydrocarbons, expand the global gas supply infrastructure, and use coal more efficiently. Doing all this will require new technologies and skills, applied in more costly and complex projects.

I believe that the major international integrated companies have a vital role in this. We have the capital and risk management capabilities to invest in demanding and long-term projects. For example, Shell plans to invest some $19 billion in 2006, twice as much as at the beginning of the decade. We have global experience of applying advanced technologies, and the understanding to develop new ones. Our ability to integrate along the supply chain from reservoir to customer provides security and efficiency.

International companies live by their ability to serve resource holders, national partners and customers. In a competitive world, there is always somebody offering to do better, spurring a constant drive for innovation and improvement.

Environmental challenges include reducing the impact of projects and operations, developing cleaner fuels, and reducing carbon emissions.

In Shell, we have been working for many years to develop Gas to Liquids as another way of commercializing gas resources to deliver much cleaner fuel. We are also focusing on ways of dealing with carbon emissions from fossil fuels, so that the world can continue to benefit from their efficiency. The potential to capture carbon dioxide and use it to enhance oil recovery is a major prize, particularly in areas like the Middle East.

The key is to have a stable international policy framework that enables and encourages the necessary investment in more difficult projects and in long-term technological development. The International Energy Forum is a vital forum for producer and consumer governments to respond to these challenges.