Oil industry needs $14trn investment to meet global demand – OPEC

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) says the oil industry will require about $14 trillion in investment from now to 2045, to meet global demand.

Haitham Al-Ghais, the secretary-general of OPEC, made this known while fielding questions from newsmen on Thursday on the sidelines of the ongoing 7th Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES 2024) in Abuja.

The summit with the theme: “Navigating the new energy world order: security, transition, and finance”, began on February.26 and will end on March 1.

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Al-Ghais said that the investment would be needed for the upstream, midstream and downstream value chain because of the massive rise in energy demand, as oil would continue to represent 30 per cent of the energy mix by 2045.

“The prediction is not only for OPEC alone but many reliable forecasting agencies have the same views that oil will continue to represent a major share of the energy mix in future.

“We will keep advocating for a continuation of investments in oil as well as the technology required in decarbonising operations.

“We have many projects coming up in our member countries; we also advocate for investing in renewables, we have member countries that are leaders in that aspect who are taking strides in investing in solar, nuclear, wind and others.

“We will continue to advocate for inclusiveness and open-door policies as we have done in the past 64 years of OPEC creation,” he said.

Al-Ghais also said investment formed part of his meeting with Mele Kyari, the group chief executive officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.).

The OPEC boss said that NNPC Ltd was taking massive strides to create an investment-friendly environment in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.

The visit saw the NNPC Ltd and OPEC pledging to work together to achieve the nation’s aspirations to attract investments and grow production.

Al-Ghais said that OPEC’s vision aligned with that of NNPC as captured in its payoff line – “Energy for today, energy for tomorrow”.

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This, he said, was because of its inclusive view of energy as opposed to the view being pushed in some quarters, that some sources of energy were bad.

According to him, OPEC will continue to ensure global energy market stability, which is needed to attract investors to Nigeria.