RIYADH — Oil giant
Saudi Aramco’s chief on
Tuesday blasted “unrealistic” energy transition plans, calling for a “new
global energy consensus”, including ramped-up investments in fossil fuels to
address painful shortages.
اضافة اعلان
Speaking at a conference in
Switzerland, Amin
Nasser, head of the world’s biggest crude producer, lamented a “deep
misunderstanding” of what caused the current energy crunch and said a “fear
factor” was holding back “critical” long-term oil and gas projects.
“When you shame oil and gas investors, dismantle oil
and coal-fired power plants, fail to diversify energy supplies (especially
gas), oppose LNG receiving terminals, and reject nuclear power, your transition
plan had better be right,” he said.
“Instead, as this crisis has shown, the plan was
just a chain of sandcastles that waves of reality have washed away.
“And billions around the world now face the energy
access and cost of living consequences that are likely to be severe and
prolonged.”
The primarily state-owned Saudi Aramco last month
unveiled record profits of $48.4 billion in the second quarter of 2022, after
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a post-pandemic surge in demand sent crude
prices soaring.
Yet even as it benefits from the current energy crisis,
Riyadh has long complained that focusing on climate change at the expense of
energy security would further fuel inflation and other economic woes.
With consumers and businesses in
Europe facing
soaring bills as winter approaches, the causes of the crisis run deeper than
the Ukraine war, Nasser said Tuesday, asserting that the warning signs were
“flashing red for almost a decade”.
They include declining oil and gas investments
dating back to 2014 and flawed models for how quickly the world could transition
to renewable sources, he said.
‘Flawed assumptions’
The “energy transition plan
has been undermined by unrealistic scenarios and flawed assumptions because
they have been mistakenly perceived as facts”, Nasser said.
His proposed “new global energy consensus” would
involve recognizing long-term needs for oil and gas, enhancing energy
efficiency, and embracing “new, lower-carbon energy” to complement conventional
sources.
Nasser nonetheless said there should be no change in
global climate goals.
Riyadh has come under intense outside pressure in
recent months to ramp up oil production, including during a visit by US
President Joe Biden in July.
So far it has largely rebuffed those appeals,
coordinating with the
OPEC+ cartel it jointly leads with Russia.
Earlier this month the bloc agreed to cut production
for the first time in more than a year as it seeks to lift prices that have
tumbled due to recession fears.
Long-term, Saudi Arabia plans to increase daily oil
production capacity by more than one million barrels to exceed 13 million by
2027.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also tried to
make environmentally friendly policies a centerpiece of his reform agenda.
Last year, Saudi Arabia pledged ahead of the
COP26 climate change summit to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2060, sparking
skepticism from environmental campaigners.
Saudi Aramco, for its part, has pledged to achieve
“operational net-zero” carbon emissions by 2050.
That applies to emissions that are produced directly
by
Aramco’s industrial sites, but not the CO2 produced when clients burn Saudi
oil in their cars, power plants and furnaces.
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