The world needs more investment in oil and gas as they will continue to make up a large part of the global energy mix in 2050, OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais said on Wednesday, reiterating the cartel’s view that investment in new supplies will be needed in the near future.
Primary energy demand will increase by 23% by 2050, Al Ghais said at the Russian Energy Week conference in Moscow, reported by Reuters.
And oil will still account for 30% of total global energy consumption in 2050, the OPEC secretary general said.
Growing economies, urbanization and population increases are leading “to a clear signal that the world will need much more energy than it consumes today,” Al Ghais added.
Earlier this year, OPEC said in its annual World Oil Outlook (WOO) that oil demand is expected to continue to rise until 2050, with consumption expected at 123 million barrels per day (bpd), up from around 104 million bpd this year.
The world needs global investment in the $18.2 trillion oil industry by 2050, Al Ghais wrote in the outlook’s foreword.
“It is vital that these investments are made for consumers and producers around the world, as well as for the efficient functioning of the global economy as a whole,” he added.
Last month, OPEC took note of the “warning” from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The agency said in a new report that the world must develop new oil and gas resources simply to keep production stable amid a faster decline in existing fields, in a major shift in its 2021 pitch that “no new investment” is needed in a net-zero by 2050 scenario.
Acknowledging the IEA’s reversal, OPEC said that “however, the IEA has not mentioned how its own promotion of its net-zero emissions scenario or its own prognosis for peak oil demand have discouraged investment and contributed to uncertainty over long-term oil demand.” »
“Contrary to the IEA’s U-turn on this important issue, OPEC has consistently advocated for timely investments in the oil industry to account for declining rates and meet growing demand,” OPEC said, commenting on the IEA’s new position.
“It is essential that all stakeholders recognize this fact consistently and do not revert to the rhetoric that there should be no investment in new oil projects. »
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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