Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin Al-Nasser stressed on Tuesday that the energy sector faces greater reputational challenges than any other to correct a worrying and growing belief among policy makers and regulators, investment houses, NGOs, and many others that the industry has little or no future.
Speaking at the International Petroleum Week in London, he said that some financial experts in Davos last month “confidently predicted the end of our industry in about five to ten years and most vehicles on the road would be electric in 10 years when today the electric vehicles account for less than half a percent.”
He added that many major investors believe that the world will accelerate in an unreasonable time framework to use renewable sources of energy, noting that the claim that the world would do without oil and gas is “extremely erroneous and has no facts to support it.”
He explained that even if all vehicles are to be converted into electric, the passenger vehicles are only 20 percent of the world’s oil demand while the remaining 80 percent is used by sectors like planes, ships, trucks, petrochemicals and lubes for which there is no alternative yet and where demand for oil is expected to increase substantially.
Al-Nasser emphasized that solar and wind energies still account for just 2 percent of primary energy demand today, stressing that the oil companies succeeded in the recent years in improving their efficiency, safety record, environmental performance and ability to contribute positively to climate change by reducing emissions. He cited Saudi Aramco's achievement as a global pioneering example.
He called upon his energy counterparts to correct misconceptions about those who doubt the continuation and sustainability of the oil and gas industry.
He concluded that the energy industry could greatly highlight the carbon footprints of its products.
