While most of the world is hoping to see oil dependence decrease over the next couple of decades, Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) has taken the position that alternative fuels will play only a small role in energy consumption through the year 2030.

The company announced today that it is estimating that fossil fuels will continue to dominate the world's energy supply, and believe that 80% of energy demand will come from fossil fuels in 2030. Wind and solar power is expected to increase sharply, but, according to chairman and production director of Exxon Mobil International Ltd., Robert C. Olsen, this growth will only lift the demand up to around 1%.

If you read enough about oil, you are bound to have encountered the theory that the world is rapidly running out of fossil fuels. Exxon looks to debunk that theory, stating that there are 3 trillion barrels of conventional, recoverable oil across the globe, three times as much as the 1 trillion barrels that have been produced over the past 100 years. Of course... we are using a great deal more of the precious crude now than we were 100 years ago!

In another part of his statement, Olsen did reiterate Exxon's newly taken stance that global warming has been taking place, and that fossil fuel burning has been a contributing factor in the rise of global temperatures. A good sign from world's biggest oil company that up until recently was one of the biggest opponents to the argument that fossil fuels contributed to global warming.

Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer. DISCLOSURE: Mr. Fowlkes owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that include holdings in XOM.

America's third largest oil company, ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), came out today with a stark confession. The company's chairman and chief executive, James Mulva, acknowledged that his company's main product, fossil fuels, are permanently warming the Earth's atmosphere.

According to Mulva, the company has been studying its impact on global warming for several years now and it has become obvious that the science speaks for itself. The oil industry as a whole has become more willing to fess up to its impact on global warming, but still have not completely embraced the concept that the burning of fossil fuels is indeed leading to global warming.

As recently as this February, the CEO of the nation's largest oil company, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), stated that he was still not 100% convinced of the impact that the burning of fossil fuels is having on climate changes. "There's clearly a change in the climate," Tillerson, XOM's chairman and chief executive said. "It's getting warmer. How that all interrelates with industrial activity is not 100% clear." Come on Tillerson, I think it's about time to just admit what the rest of the world already knows to be true.