Haitham Al-Ghais, Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has recognized the public policy on hydrocarbons of the Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for its self-sufficiency as a key element of security. in a masterful conference called “World Oil Market”.
Making special mention of the vision and geopolitical calculations of the Mexican government to strengthen its refining, in an environment where the pandemic has generated a drop and erratic behavior in oil demand, causing the United States and European regions to close refining, while Asia and the Middle East collect this connection.
In this way, the representative of OPEC expressed his congratulations for the construction of the Olmeca Refinery: “… I want to congratulate Mexico, the Mexican industry, the industry leaders, the secretary himself (RocÃo Nahle)… that you really have a very clear vision to invest…”; The Secretary General highlighted the organization of oil, putting that key investment to recover in pre-pandemic demand at the end of the year and future demand of 110 million barrels per day.
OPEC calculates that in 2045 the size of the global economy will double and the planet will have almost 20 billion inhabitants; world energy demand will grow by 23% and oil will represent 30 percent of the world’s energy matrix.
It is clear that the planet’s energy demand cannot be met by just one energy source, the full range of fossil and renewable energies is required in a complementary way, said Al-Ghais.
For this reason, by the time towards 2045, the investment of a holistic vision is required in the entire value chain, including the petrochemical, 12.1 trillion dollars; this is more than 5 billion dollars per year.
Regarding the Energy Transition, the representative of the oil cartel shows that it must be carried out according to the characteristics and possibilities of each country, since the energy system cannot be blocked for a few years; and he made it very clear that OPEC does not deny climate change nor is it against renewable energy; rather, they invest in the technology of decarbonization of the industry; The problem is not the oil industry, the problem is the emissions and the energy is able to reduce.
Finally, the Energy Transition from the perspective of OPEC must be carried out by ensuring the balance and complementarity of all energy sources, the energy matrix and satisfying the global demand not only as a business, but as an obligation before humanity.
