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Summary
- OPEC head repeats call for investments in oil and gas
- Energy security key to climate action success – Saudi minister
- Saudi minister sees Europe struggling with transition challenge
(Reuters) – The head of OPEC and the producer group’s most influential energy minister on Wednesday defended oil’s role in providing secure energy supplies, pushing back against predictions of a faster transition to cleaner fuels.
OPEC, which accounts for about a third of global oil supply, has consistently argued that oil demand will continue rising for decades, disagreeing with forecasts, such as from the International Energy Agency, that demand will peak soon.
OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said growing economies, rising populations and urbanisation led “to one clear signal that the world will need much more energy than it is consuming today”.
OPEC URGES MORE INVESTMENT IN OIL INDUSTRY
Speaking at the Russian Energy Week conference in Moscow, he predicted oil would continue to account for about 30% of the global energy mix by 2050, and forecast 23% growth in primary energy demand by then.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has been calling for more oil industry investment and said in a July report that the sector needed $18.2 trillion to be spent by 2050, compared with the $17.4 trillion it estimated last year.
By contrast, the IEA said in 2021 there should be no investment in new oil and gas projects if the world was serious about meeting climate targets. In a September report, though, the IEA said investment was needed to offset supply losses.
Speaking at the Moscow event, Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that energy security and economic prosperity were prerequisites for successful climate action.
Without energy security and economic prosperity, “I don’t think you’ll be able to attend to sustainability and climate change,” he said.
He singled out Europe, saying it was struggling with the challenge of moving away from its established energy infrastructure towards uncertain alternatives.
The OPEC+ producer group, comprising OPEC and allies including Russia, is pumping more barrels to regain market share after years of cuts to support prices.
The extra supply is adding to fears of a glut and weighing on oil prices this year.
Reporting by Youssef Saba in Dubai, Vladimir Soldatkin and Olesya Astakhova in Moscow. Writing by Ahmed Elimam and Ahmad Ghaddar. Editing by Alex Lawler and Mark Potter
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