Oil, gas to meet over 50% global needs by 2045 — OPEC

The Secretary General of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Dr Mohammad Barkindo, has said the oil and gas sector will still supply over 50 per cent of the global energy needs by 2045.

Barkindo made that assertion while presenting a special address at S&P Global Platts Americas Petroleum and Energy, held virtually on Wednesday.

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He spoke on the topic: ‘The pursuit of global multilateralism to help drive the global energy transition’.

“Renewables are coming of age, with wind and solar expanding quickly, but – even by 2045 – in our WOO they are only estimated to make up just over 20 per cent of the global energy mix.

“Oil and gas combined are forecast to still supply over 50 per cent of the world’s energy needs by 2045, with oil at around 27 per cent and gas at 25 per cent.

“We appreciate that some will view this as an OPEC forecast, dispute the numbers and state that the Organization is against renewable,’’ he said.

He noted that many OPEC Member Countries had great solar and wind resources and huge investments being made in this field.

According to him, OPEC welcomes the development of renewables.

“However, we do not see any reputable outlook projecting in their base cases that renewables will come anywhere close to overtaking oil and gas in the decades ahead,’’ he added

In terms of electric vehicles, the OPEC scribe said that there was no doubt that they would continue to see expansion in the transportation sector.

He noted that the share of electric vehicles in the total road transportation fleet is projected to expand to around 16 per cent in 2045.

“In the period to 2045, fuel efficiency improvements are expected to result in a far greater reduction in oil demand, than the increasing penetration of alternative fuel vehicles,’’ he added. (NAN)