The future of oil and natural gas relies on one thing only: low prices.

Executives and government energy ministers spent most of CERAWeek bragging about how they've driven down production costs to meet the current low-price environment. At this annual conference, they touted huge oil and gas reserves capable of economically meeting the world's energy needs for generations.

That's a stark contrast to CERAWeek 2014, when Chevron CEO John Watson declared that $100 a barrel was too low a price for oil and that consumers needed to pay more to keep the industry producing. Suddenly, prices have fallen to less than $50 a barrel, and other CEOs say anything above $50 is good, and $60 would be a dream come true.

While this is good news for consumers, it's bad news for oil industry workers and for Houston, which remains far too reliant on oil and gas jobs. Low prices mean low margins, low profits and fewer jobs as companies pinch pennies.

"Our mission is to deliver to people affordable energy, cheap energy, and to do that it must be low cost," Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of the French oil giant Total, told CERAWeek 2017. "And that means you are working on low-cost assets, and you are looking at low break-evens."

Blame Adam Smith's invisible hand: Fossil fuel supplies are high, demand is climbing slowly, and renewable sources are becoming more competitive.

The world's crude oil and natural gas storage facilities are breaking records, and proven reserves are enormous. U.S. inventories hit their highest level since 1982 on Wednesday, sending crude prices down more than 5 percent.

Natural gas prices, meanwhile, remain historically low at less than $3 for a million British thermal units, compared with $11 in 2008. Two unseasonably warm winters have led to huge inventories, and for the first time ever in February, U.S. suppliers injected gas into storage rather than extracting it.

Three-dimensional seismic imaging, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have made it easier to identify and extract fossil fuels than ever before. Digital tools and high-speed computers have boosted well efficiencies. Companies are competing on cost of production.

Almost every speaker at CERAWeek, a fossil fuel cheerleader camp as much as an industry conference, spent their presentations trying to convince investors that demand will grow to consume this glut. They point to the 2 billion people who will move into the middle class between now and 2035, and the expected population growth of another 2 billion people.

Demand, though, has failed to grow as quickly as expected since the Great Recession in 2008. China's demand growth has plummeted, and U.S. and European consumption remains fairly flat. Only Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are showing steep increases in demand, but they are the most price-sensitive consumers.

Cheap and plentiful energy is critical to encouraging demand in poor countries. An oft-repeated talking point is that fossil fuels are the only way to meet the energy needs of developing countries, which is why CEOs called for cuts to environmental regulations.

Charif Souki, the ousted Cheniere CEO and liquefied natural gas promoter, went so far as claiming that rules limiting oil and gas production are racist, denying energy to vulnerable people in Africa and Asia.

Watson, the Chevron CEO, repeated an argument made by Chinese and Indian politicians: Let the poor get rich before worrying about the environment.

"Wealthy nations have the best environment standards," Watkins said. "Let's focus on producing wealth and teaching people how to create wealth. And once people have some measure of wealth, and their basic needs taken care of, they'll start focusing very hard on environmental performance."

He said this is happening in China, failing to note that Chinese pollution is the worst in the world and is now reaching the U.S. West Coast. It's a startling argument to suggest that every poor country should become as rich and polluted as China before worrying about the global environment. When Watson wonders why so many people hate his industry, he need only play back the video from his presentation.

Ben van Beurden, Royal Dutch Shell's CEO, recognizes that the social contract for energy companies is changing, as consumers worry about climate change and adopt low-carbon options as fast as they can. He said demand for oil could peak in the 2020s.

"Societal acceptance of the energy system as we have it is just disappearing," he said, explaining why his corporation is leading its peers in adopting new energy technologies.

U.S. and European executives recognize that 80 percent of the new electricity generation projects commissioned in 2016 are renewable energy projects. They know Tesla's new lithium battery factory will bring down electric vehicle costs, and Elon Musk has plans for three more.

The only way for oil and natural gas companies to compete in the future is to lower costs through standardized drilling, new digital tools and reduced labor costs.

Anyone waiting for a return of the good old days of big spending by oil and gas companies will be disappointed. And that means less wealth and fewer jobs in Houston if the city doesn't diversify its economy more.