OPEC secretary-general takes aim at net-zero targets calling them ‘detached from reality’

There is no peak in global oil demand on the horizon and it will take billions of investment in the coming decades to meet this need, the secretary general of the Organization of oil exporting countries Tuesday said in an address at the Global energy show in Calgary.

Primary energy demand is expected to increase by 24% by 2050, exceeding 120 million barrels per day, said Haitham al-Ghais.

This will require 17.4 billions of dollars in investment during this period, he added.

“OPEC forecasts are not essentially ideology. They are based on data and data analysis, and they clearly indicate that oil will remain an integral part of the energy mixture,” said Al-Ghais.

Inadequate investment in the petroleum and gas industry is a “dangerous affair,” he said.

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“It undermines energy security and market stability and causes increased volatility worldwide, which affects producers, but not only producers – more importantly, it really affects consumers and, of course, the larger global economy.”

Al-Ghais said that OPEC takes climate change “very, very seriously”, but expressed his concern concerning the net-zero objectives which he described as “unrealistic”, “fixed on deadlines” and “detached from reality”.

“We welcome recent movements towards policies based on pragmatic energy realities, and which recognize that we are confronted with a challenge for emissions and not the challenge of energy sources,” said Al-Ghais, noting that OPEC members are signatories of the Paris climate agreement and recognize the role of renewable energies.

The OPEC Secretary General said that his organization admired what Alberta has accomplished as a producer of energy.

“Following this, Canada has become a large world – and I highlight the world word – the oil supplier,” he said.

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