World can't live without oil, OPEC providing market stability needed for investments: OPEC Secy Gen

New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) OPEC on Tuesday said oil market stability is key to investment and global economic development and the producers cartel has been working to provide that stability.

Speaking at the India Energy Week, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Secretary General Haitham Al-Ghais said energy transition notwithstanding, the world cannot live without oil.

"Oil is paramount to providing energy security to the world. Energy security drives global economic prosperity and growth. Without oil the world will stop. Everything we are doing today is flights, ships, cars, eating, cooking, you name it, petrochemicals, everything will come to a grinding halt," he said.

World oil consumption will continue to rise, thanks to countries like India where demand is growing.

"The world has spent USD 10 trillion in so-called transitions in the last 25 years. And where are we today -- renewable is only 4-5 per cent (of global energy demand). OPEC is not against renewable energy. But we are all about taking a balanced approach," he said.

Balanced approach means taking a long-term view of the energy mix and not being bracketed in one fuel versus the other, he said, adding that OPEC is acting as the stabiliser.

"Let's imagine the oil markets without OPEC or without OPEC+. Stability factor that you are talking about and what that stability factor really entails in the longer term for the global economy, actually, not just for oil producers or for oil consumers like India, because stability is key for global economic growth and prosperity. Without stability you cannot have investment, you cannot have clarity," he said.

Without stability, there can't be any investment, he said.

"And this is one of the beautiful things about OPEC+... We have these mechanisms in place where we work together, we read the market, we analyse the supply, demand away from political considerations, purely on technical, sound technical considerations, and we take the decision that provides stability for the market." He said communication is essential for stability, that is what OPEC+ is doing.

"This is something that is at the core of our decision making. Stability that we provide benefits investors in the longer term," he said, adding that oil was the least volatile commodity last year. PTI ANZ TRB

Source: PTI