OPEC NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR RISE IN OIL, SAYS SECRETARY GENERAL
par Rowena Edwards, Maha El Dahan et Alex Lawler
LONDON (Archyde.com) – Politicians, lawmakers and a lack of investment in the oil and gas sector are to blame for rising energy prices, not OPEC, the new secretary general told Archyde.com on Thursday. of the organization of producing countries, Haitham Al Ghais.
The lack of investment following the COVID-19-induced price crash has significantly reduced OPEC’s excess production capacity and limited its ability to respond quickly to further supply disruptions.
The price of Brent neared its all-time high of $147 a barrel in March after Russian troops entered Ukraine, heightening supply concerns. And even though prices have since ebbed, they remain historically high.
“Don’t blame OPEC, blame your own politicians and legislators because OPEC and producing countries have always pushed to invest in oil (and gas),” said Haitham Al Ghais, who took office on August 1, in an online interview.
Oil and gas investment is up 10% from a year ago but remains well below its 2019 level, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last month.
The OPEC secretary general also pointed to the lack of investment in downstream (refining and distribution) adding that OPEC members had increased their refining capacities to compensate for declines in Europe and the United States. United.
“We are not saying that the world will live forever on fossil fuels (…) but by saying that we will not invest in fossil fuels (…), we must go from point A to point B overnight,” Haitham Al Ghais said.
OPEC exists to ensure that the world has enough oil but “it will be very difficult if we do not realize the importance of investment”, he said, adding that he hoped that “the investors, financial institutions and policy makers around the world will take this issue to heart and incorporate it into their plans for the future.”
(Reporting Rowena Edwards, Alex Lawler, Dmitry Zhdannikov, Maha El Dahan and Olesya Astakhova; French version Federica Mileo, editing by Marc Angrand)