LONDON (Reuters) – There is no end in sight to oil production, OPEC’s top official said, as the pace of energy demand growth means alternatives cannot replace it at the scale needed, and the focus should focus on reducing emissions and not on oil consumption.
In an opinion article in the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) published on Friday, OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais wrote that there is “a worrying trend of stories” using terms such as the end of oil , which have the potential to further the oil crisis. energy policies that fuel energy chaos.
“What if supply investment declines, but oil demand continues to rise, as we see today?” Al Ghais wrote in the MEES article shared by OPEC on X.
“The reality is that the end of oil production is not yet in sight,” he wrote.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries believes that oil consumption will continue to rise in the coming decades, contrary to agencies such as the International Energy Agency, which predicts that oil consumption will peak in 2030.
The oil industry is investing in technologies such as the use and storage of carbon capture, clean hydrogen and direct air capture, showing that it is possible to reduce emissions while producing the oil the world needs, wrote Al Ghais .
Al Ghais wrote that the world has invested more than $9.5 trillion in transition costs over the past two decades, but wind and solar power still only provide just under 4% of the world’s energy, while electric vehicles account for a total have global penetration rates of between 2% and 20%. 3%.
Remove ads
.
“The reality is that many alternatives cannot replace oil at the scale necessary, or are unaffordable in many regions.”
