2024-01-17T13:41:46+00:00
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/ The Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Haitham Al-Ghais, confirmed today, Wednesday, that the oil reserves are sufficient for the current and next century and there is no concern in this regard, pointing out that crude supplies are constantly expanding thanks to the improvement in the world’s economies.
Al-Ghais said in an article on the organization’s website, “There is no concern about the available resource base, which is large enough for the current century and beyond, and oil supplies have expanded thanks to continuous advances in technology that have helped reduce costs, opened new horizons, and added new reserves.”
He pointed out that “there is little discussion about peak oil supply, and the focus has shifted to talk about peak oil demand.”
Al-Ghais explained that “talk about peak oil production appeared as early as the 1880s, when some expected the depletion of oil potential in the United States, due to the disappearance of oil fields in the American state of Pennsylvania at that time.”
Despite these expectations, oil production in the United States is still increasing steadily, more than 70 years after the emergence of the theory of “peak oil supply,” according to Al-Ghais’ article.
“Discussions about peak oil supplies resurfaced in the 1990s and 2000s, with geologist Colin Campbell suggesting in the late 1990s that world oil production would peak around 2004 or 2005, after which the world would have to rely on ever-dwindling, more expensive oil to produce,” he added.
In 2006, American banker and economist Matthew Simons said that world oil production may have peaked in 2005.
According to Al-Ghais, “Throughout history, predictions about peak oil supplies have been repeatedly made to a later time in the future, with levels increasing with each prediction.”
The OPEC Secretary General noted that there is talk of policies that see oil as not being part of a sustainable energy future.
He explained that the matter is similar to the debate over peak oil supplies, saying that the role that technology can play in helping to reduce emissions should not be forgotten, especially in light of the global importance of oil as one of the most important and secure sources of energy.
OPEC Secretary General said that Citibank’s 2013 report, “Global Oil Demand Growth – The End is Near,” indicated that oil demand growth could peak much sooner than the market had expected.
“However, oil demand in 2012 was less than 90 million barrels per day, while today’s demand is more than 100 million barrels per day,” Al Ghais said.
He added that today’s demand has exceeded pre-Covid-19 levels, as some forecasters indicated at the beginning of the pandemic that oil demand levels would never exceed those seen in 2019.
“It is clear that peak oil demand does not appear in any short- or medium-term forecasts,” Al-Ghais said.