ESSO'S key challenge was to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, Long Island Point manager Stuart Jeffries told the annual Esso community dinner at Hastings last week.
He said the company had 1500 PhDs around the world working on solving fuel problems.
Researchers were looking into carbon capture and storage as well as leading-edge technology for fuel-cell vehicles and low-emission technologies.
Mr Jeffries said Bass Strait oil and gas fields were being investigated for carbon storage but there was concern that introducing CO2 before oil and gas reservoirs were exhausted could be a dangerous mix.
Esso was also working with governments to ensure the most effective emission trading schemes were put in place, but such schemes did not always work as well as they might.
At Long Island Point, the company was working on reducing flare-offs and water use.
Mr Jeffries said waste ethane generally went to customers at Altona, but when there was an excess they had no option but to burn it off for the safety of the plant.
Asked if the flare could be turned into energy for the plant, he said the excess of ethane was not predictable so it was a challenge to turn it into a reliable supply.
Waste ethane was difficult to store and would require enormous tanks, Mr Jeffries said.
However, Esso had reduced water used as a cooling medium by 10 per cent this year.
He said water - once cheap - was now seen as a precious commodity. Esso had contracted a waste-water treatment plant to deal with water that came with oil from Gippsland.
The cleaned water was emptied into Western Port.
Cr Reade Smith told the gathering of Esso staff and Western Port volunteers supported by Esso that Mornington Peninsula Shire was investigating "breakthrough technology for turning waste burns into power".
Asked about the effect on Esso of extensions to the Port of Hastings, Mr Jeffries said the company supported the development in the right context as long as it did not impinge on its operation.
He said Cr David Jarman had asked whether there were any new technologies available to allow for a lesser buffer zone around the plant.
Mr Jeffries said the zones conformed to international standards.
In relation to the Port of Hastings expansion, "the risk contours of port expansion on land between Esso and BHP could be substantially impinged on".
A spokesman for Hastings CFA thanked Mr Jeffries on behalf of all volunteer groups present for Esso's long-standing practical and funding support. Mr Jeffries said volunteers from Esso staff would again help clearing vegetation and gardening at Sages Cottage farm at Baxter, which is run by Menzies Inc. The farm offers creative arts and other therapies to neglected and abused children.
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