OPEC says $14 trillion oil investment needed by 2045
Vienna/Riyadh, Oct 9 (EFE).- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Monday that the world oil industry would require investments of $14 trillion by 2045 and that an eventual lack of these capital flows could lead to chaos in the market.
“The upshot is there is no credible way to address all the challenges before us without utilizing all available energy sources, all relevant technologies, and with energy market stability as a cornerstone for the huge investments required,” OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais said at the launch of the 2023 OPEC World Oil Outlook (WOO 2023) in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.
This view, which is expected to be defended at the next climate summit (COP28) not only by the 13 OPEC nations, but also the world’s oil industry, is in clear opposition to the position of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which considers it unnecessary to promote new projects to extract crude oil.
In this regard, Al Ghais warned in the annual report that calls to stop investments in new oil projects were erroneous and could lead to energy and economic chaos.
According to the document, investment needs for the sector are estimated at a cumulative total of $14 trillion, or about $610 billion per year on average, during the period from 2022 to 2045.
The calculations are based on the forecast of global crude oil demand continuing to increase until at least 2045, when it is expected to reach about 106 million barrels per day (mbd), about 6 mbd more than now.
Despite forecasting a considerable development of renewable energy sources, the report expects that oil will remain the number one source of energy, accounting for almost 30 percent, until around the middle of the 21st century.
OPEC does admit that in addition to meeting growing energy needs, “it is also necessary to continuously reduce emissions” of greenhouse effect.
However, OPEC admitted that in addition to meeting growing energy needs, it was also necessary to continuously reduce emissions to check the greenhouse effect on the Earth’s climate.
On the contrary, the Paris-based IEA, known to defend the energy interests of major industrialized nations, foresees the possibility of global consumption of fossil fuels to peak before 2030, followed by a steady decline.
For this, the IEA advocates tripling investments in renewable energy – wind, solar and nuclear -, doubling energy efficiency, withdrawing fossil fuel subsidies, and reducing oil investments to existing facilities and approved projects. EFE
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