The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Thursday disclosed that fossil fuels continue to make up 80% of the global energy mix.
The oil cartel, in a statement debunked the assertion by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that fossil fuels demand would peak before 2030, adding that the assertion is not made on data-based forecasts.
The OPEC pointed out that was risky and impractical narrative to dismiss fossil fuels or to suggest that they are at the beginning of their end.
It stated: “In past decades, there were often calls of peak supply, and in more recent ones, peak demand, but evidently neither has materialized. The difference today, and what makes such predictions so dangerous, is that they are often accompanied by calls to stop investing in new oil and gas projects.
“This thinking on fossil fuels is ideologically driven, rather than fact-based. It also does not take into account the technological progress the industry continues to make on solutions to help reduce emissions. Neither does it acknowledge that fossil fuels continue to make up over 80% of the global energy mix, the same as 30 years ago, or that the energy security they provide is vital”, it added.
The OPEC statement further reinforced its Secretary General’s, Haitham al Ghais’, earlier position that such narratives by IEA only set the global energy system up to fail spectacularly, thereby leading to energy chaos on a potentially unprecedented scale, with dire consequences for economies and billions of people across the world.
The oil cartel also confirmed that many of its member-countries were investing heavily in clean energy projects.
It expatiated: “Technological innovation is a key focus for OPEC, which is why Member Countries are investing heavily in hydrogen projects, carbon capture utilization and storage facilities, the circular carbon economy, and in renewables too.
“While some may suggest that a number of these oil-focused technologies are still immature, they ignore the fact that many technologies referenced in net-zero scenarios are at an immature, experimental or even theoretical stage”, OPEC stated.
