OPEC Sec: We expect global energy demand to rise by 23% until ‎‎2045‎

Haitham Al-Ghais, Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said today, Tuesday, during an oil and gas conference in Nigeria, that global demand for energy of all kinds is expected to rise by 23 percent until 2045.

According to Reuters, executives in the oil sector and other officials from OPEC have repeatedly indicated the need to continue pumping investments into the oil sector, warning that stopping it will lead to an increase in its prices.

Al-Ghais also said that calls to limit or stop financing new oil projects are unrealistic and unwise. But he acknowledged the need to use technology to tackle persistent fossil fuel emissions

He added, “The global demand for energy is expected to increase by a significant rate of 23 percent in the period until 2045, which means that we will need all forms of energy.”

He also said, “We will need innovative solutions such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen projects, as well as the circular carbon economy, which received positive support from the G20.”

He added that the global oil sector needs to invest $12.1 trillion during the same period, but it is not yet on its way to reach that level of investments.

Sources close to OPEC said that the organization is likely to maintain its optimistic expectations about oil demand growth for next year in a report to be published this month, as it expects demand to slow compared to the current year, but it will remain above average.

OPEC’s forecast for 2024 is likely to be lower than the growth it expects for this year of 2.35 million barrels per day or 2.4 percent, a remarkable rate as the world emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic.