A longtime oil and gas executive and Missouri S&T alumnus will discuss energy supply and demand gaps next week at the university.

Richard J. “Dick” Stegemeier, retired chairman and CEO of UNOCAL Corp., will present “Energy Independence … the Great Delusion”, at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, in Leach Theatre of Castleman Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception will be held prior to the lecture at 3 p.m. in the lobby of Castleman Hall.

The lecture is part of the Missouri S&T Energy Center’s Distinguished Lecture Series. Stegemeier will address the serious economic and political repercussions resulting from America’s dependence on foreign oil, and how the next decade’s demand for oil will exceed the supply. He says this may be followed by insufficient natural gas supplies in the subsequent decade, and asserts that solar, wind and biofuels cannot bridge the gap between energy supply and demand. He will quantify the enormity of this energy problem as well as discuss some potential energy alternatives.

Stegemeier worked for UNOCAL Corp. for 45 years, including six years as CEO beginning in 1988. The company conducted oil and gas exploration and production in 22 countries, producing more than 500,000 barrels of oil and almost 2 billion cubic feet of gas daily. It had 22,000 employees, was the ninth largest American oil company and ranked 39th in the Fortune 500 list of the largest companies in the U.S.

He received the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement by the American Petroleum Institute in 1998, the most prestigious award in the industry. In 1991, he gave the keynote address at the World Petroleum Congress in Buenos Aires and spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In 1992, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1994 he was elected chairman of the California Chamber of Commerce.

Stegemeier received his bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering in 1950 from Missouri S&T (then Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy). He received his master’s degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University in 1951. He completed course work for his Ph.D. in chemical engineering, but his thesis was not completed due to a 13-year transfer overseas in 1964.