OPEC cautions IEA, says stopping investment in new oil, gas could lead to future volatility
Oredola Adeola
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has cautioned the International Energy Agency (IEA) against its determined efforts to undermine the oil industry investments, warning that its continued call for no new oil and natural gas investments could lead to global volatility.
Haitham Al Ghais, OPEC Secretary-General, made this known in a remark 9th Joint IEA-IEF-OPEC Workshop on the Interactions between Physical and Financial Energy Markets on Thursday, Vienna, Austria.
Al Ghais said the finger-pointing and misrepresenting OPEC and OPEC+ actions was counterproductive and blaming oil for inflation was erroneous and technically incorrect as there were many other factors causing inflation.
Al Ghais reiterated that OPEC and OPEC+ were not targeting oil prices, with the focus being solely on market fundamentals and enabling vital oil industry investments that the world desperately required.
“The IEA knows very well that there is a confluence of factors that impact markets. The knock-on effects of COVID-19, monetary policies, stock movements, algorithm trading, commodity trading advisors and SPR releases (coordinated or uncoordinated), and geopolitics, among others.
“The finger-pointing and misrepresenting OPEC and OPEC+ actions is counterproductive and blaming oil for inflation is erroneous and technically incorrect as there are many other factors causing inflation.
“Other energy markets have been far more volatile with oil markets less so, mainly due to the stabilising role of OPEC and the OPEC+ group,” he said.
He said that the IEA’s repeated calls to stop investing in oil could lead to future volatility.
According to him, it is known that all data-driven outlooks envisage the need for more of this precious commodity to fuel global economic growth and prosperity in the decades to come, especially in the developing world.
