BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 15. It is important to focus also on the messaging that encourages continued investment in oil and gas rather than discouraging it, Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Haitham Al Ghais said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of the inaugural Technical Committee Meeting of the OPEC+ Charter of Cooperation in Baku.
Haitham Al Ghais recalled that OPEC does not comment on oil prices and doesn't even forecast the prices.
"I think the prices are a function of so many different elements, fundamentals and non-fundamental factors that we focus on the stability between the supply and the demand. That's what we do through the Declaration of Cooperation and we have been doing it successfully. Now, we can talk about what levels of investment are needed. According to our outlook, we need almost $700 billion per year to sustain the oil industry. That means from now to 2050, almost $18 trillion in total. That covers the upstream, downstream and midstream industry. That's significant, and that's what we try to promote through making sure that the market is stable, that there is an investor-friendly appetite. We have seen that declining, of course, over the years when there is a big oversupply, and the environment is not conducive for investments. But also, I think, irrespective of the price, I'd like to circle that back to what we were talking about earlier regarding the narrative about abandoning oil and gas. The International Energy Agency said that 2030 is the end of the era of oil and gas. Yet every year, we are seeing a new record for oil demand. 2030 is less than five years from today. For the last 10 years, they have been forecasting that oil demand would peak and that it would be on the downward trend for the rest of the decade. But this is not happening. That is why it is important to focus not only on the price levels that enable and incentivize investment, but equally on the messaging that creates confidence in the future of the industry and encourages continued investment in oil and gas rather than discouraging it," OPEC's secretary general concluded.
